Lisbon, June 25, 2025 (Lusa)— The leader of the Portuguese Left Bloc Party on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Luís Montenegro of “total subservience” to US President Donald Trump for agreeing to commit 5% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to defence spending by 2035.
This position was conveyed by the leader of the Left Bloc (BE), Mariana Mortágua, in a statement to journalists in parliament in which she reiterated her party’s demand that Portugal withdraw from NATO.
In The Hague today, on his way into the NATO summit, the prime minister was asked whether Portugal is committed to spending 5% of GDP on military expenditure, of which 3.5% on traditional military spending (armed forces, equipment and training) and an additional 1.5% on investments such as infrastructure and industry.
Luís Montenegro replied: “We will do this in a balanced and progressive manner, reconciling all our responsibilities, namely financial stability and, through this, also the responsibility to ensure that the Portuguese people receive all social services without jeopardising any of our public policy priorities by increasing this investment”.
Speaking to journalists, Mariana Mortágua pointed out that Luís Montenegro “agreed for the first time, or admitted for the first time, that he agrees with the target demanded by NATO Secretary General [Mark Rutte] and [Donald] Trump of 5% of spending on defence, with 3.5% for 2035 on armaments alone”.
"This means, on average, spending 450 million more every year on armaments. In a country that cannot guarantee education for everyone, that cannot guarantee health care, public services, that cannot make the investments it needs in infrastructure, it is committing itself to spending 5% of GDP, an additional 450 million per year, on armaments just to serve the orders of Trump and the NATO secretary general,” she accused.
For the BE leader, “this subservience to Donald Trump and NATO is not in Portugal’s interests and does not defend Portugal”.
Mariana Mortágua also pointed out that the Portuguese prime minister did not follow the example of his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, and ended up “agreeing to spending more on arms”.
In the opening part of her statement, the BE leader reiterated her view that Portugal should leave NATO, considering it “a dangerous alliance for the country”.
“We have the NATO secretary general greeting the president of the United States, whom he calls dear Donald, and we are witnessing an intervention that violates international law in Iran.
We basically have the NATO secretary general telling the president of the United States that he has managed to convince European countries to spend big - and this expression is from the NATO secretary general - on military spending,” said Mariana Mortágua.
The Left Bloc MP then linked this investment to the United States’ interest in European military spending.
“We know that part of this military spending is destined for US industry,” she maintained.
Portugal has already committed to reaching the target of 2% of Gross Domestic Product on defence this year, without a revised budget, cuts in social spending or damaging public accounts, which means an increase of around 1.3 billion.
PMF/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
