Lisbon, Dec. 4, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese defence minister has announced the creation of an "autonomous structure" whose mission will be to implement the European Security and Defence Industrial Development programme (SAFE) loans and report on the execution of contracts to the supervisory authority and other public oversight bodies.
"I want you to know that we are going to create the equivalent of a mission structure - although it may not have that name, it is inspired by a mission structure - which will implement SAFE and ensure transparency and report to the supervisory authority and other public oversight bodies on the execution of all these contracts," announced Nuno Melo on Wednesday evening.
The centrist minister was speaking to journalists at a press conference at the National Defence Institute (IDN) in Lisbon, dedicated to the European SAFE defence loan programme, through which Portugal has applied for €5.8 billion in funding.
"We want to ensure that the execution of all these contracts, which are large contracts, will be completely transparent and visible, first and foremost to all these public supervisory bodies of different kinds," Nuno Melo emphasised.
This structure - the composition of which Nuno Melo did not detail - will be "endowed with sufficient autonomy, powers and resources to enable it to implement the investment plan and other contractual obligations, and/or report to the Government and the European Union".
Nuno Melo said that the structure will be "the subject of a resolution" that he intends to put to a vote at a future Cabinet meeting.
Portugal's application for SAFE European loans includes the acquisition of frigates, the restoration of the Alfeite Arsenal and the production of armoured vehicles, ammunition, satellites and drones in Portugal.
As part of these investments, Portugal will develop partnerships with Italy, France, Finland, Germany, Spain and Belgium.
Nuno Melo stressed that this entity will not be created to make decisions about which investments will be made, but rather to "ensure transparency in the execution of contracts".
"All of this execution must be absolutely transparent. And absolutely transparent through an entity that will be autonomous, which will evaluate, supervise and report to both the Government and the European Union itself. What we want is for everything to be clear and transparent," he stressed.
Nuno Melo repeated several times that he "did not choose a single piece of equipment" and that his "political validation" was based on technical criteria and needs expressed by the branches of the armed forces.
"I really want this to be outsourced, so that there is no doubt. This transparency is absolutely fundamental because the more transparency there is and the fewer doubts are speculated, the more we are able to perform this service, which is in the interests of a nation that must also be treated for the right reasons when it comes to national defence," he argued.
In the final phase of the press conference, the minister asked for "the benefit of the doubt" and insisted that he was doing "something that was good and important."
About two years ago, the judicial police and the public prosecutor's office searched the premises of the Directorate-General for National Defence Resources in connection with acts committed between 2018 and 2021, as part of Operation "Perfect Storm".
The alleged crimes in question are active and passive corruption, money laundering, embezzlement and falsification or counterfeiting of documents, in an investigation in which 73 official suspects (43 individuals and 30 companies) have already been named, including the former director of the Directorate-General for National Defence Resources, Alberto Coelho, Paulo Morais Branco, former financial director of the Directorate-General for National Defence Resources, and Francisco Marques, former director of infrastructure and property services.
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