Lisbon, July 1, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese defence minister predicted on Wednesday in parliament that the Security Action Facility for Europe (SAFE) contracts will be signed in July and that the first shipments of equipment are expected to arrive in the country in 2029, an issue that sparked a heated debate with Chega and the PS parties.
Security Action for Europe (SAFE) is an EU financial instrument adopted in May 2025 to boost the continent's defence readiness. It authorises up to €150 billion in competitively priced loans for member states to accelerate major, joint military procurement and close critical capability gaps. During a parliamentary hearing, Nuno Melo stated that Portugal’s application to the SAFE – European loans totalling €5.8 billion – is “at the contractual stage”.
“As far as we are concerned, the first contracts will be signed at the end of July,” he said.
Nuno Melo predicted that the first equipment is due to arrive in the country in 2029 and 2030, and will include “satellites, frigates, armoured vehicles and other vehicles, anti-aircraft systems, artillery systems, drones and ammunition”, as well as a “very significant” investment in the Alfeite Arsenal naval shipyard on the south bank of the river Tagus.
The date for signing the contracts was one of the issues that prompted questions from the opposition, notably from Chega and the PS. MP Nuno Simões de Melo was the first to point out that the minister had already mentioned, in a previous hearing, that the contracts were due to be signed in May.
In a more tense tone, Nuno Melo dismissed the point: “Whether it’s in June, July, August or September, as long as it gets done, we’ll have the capabilities, whilst you, Mr Melo, will be left with your parliamentary rhetoric.”
At this point, Nuno Simões de Melo, of Chega, accused Nuno Melo of failing to answer questions – a complaint that Luís Dias, of the PS, also voiced later on. The two parties, already in the final stages of the hearing, went so far as to say that they were “asking for one thing” and the minister was replying “with something else”, and noted an “evasive Nuno Melo” – criticisms denied by the minister, who said he “answers as he deems appropriate and sufficient”.
The Socialist Luís Dias also questioned the minister on when the first SAFE contracts would be signed and the first funds received, noting the various dates that had already been announced.
Nuno Melo denied any delay in signing the contracts, stating that he had only given indicative dates, and that not everything depended on the Government in this matter.
The Strategic Concept for National Defence, dating from 2013, was also a topic of discussion, with questions from Nuno Simões de Melo and Rui Tavares of the Livre party. Nuno Melo agreed that the issue is important but put it into perspective, saying that investments could not wait for this concept, the proposed revision of which has yet to be submitted to parliament.
Bruno Ventura, of the PSD, chose to point the finger at the PS, in a speech in which he mocked the aims of the Socialists’ draft bill, which seeks to strengthen Parliament’s powers in the area of defence and create a new law on troop deployment.
“I imagine the soldier deployed to the Central African Republic must have thought, 'thank God, the PS has thought of us and we’re going to have another MP on the Superior Council of National Defence’,” he quipped.
In the same vein, Nuno Melo accused the Socialists of tabling a bill he considered unconstitutional, maintaining that “it is the Government, not Parliament, that is in charge of defence”, and lamenting the breakdown of the traditional consensus between the major parties in this area of sovereignty.
When questioned by CDS-PP MP João Almeida, the defence minister also stated that the ministry would file a criminal complaint regarding the proliferation of illegal buildings in the area of the NATO ammunition depot at Fernão Ferro, in the district of Setúbal.
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