The President of the Republic considered this Saturday, October 11th, that the North American President’s suggestion to expel Spain from NATO, for not fulfilling its Defense spending commitments, “does not make sense” and is “a form of pressure”.
“Let’s be clear that the expulsion of a country from NATO is not a one-and-done thing. It doesn’t make sense. It is a force of expression, a form of pressure, a way of expressing differences or different points of view”said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, when asked about the issue in Tallin, on the sidelines of a bilateral meeting with his Estonian counterpart, Alar Karis.
The head of state stressed that “Spain did not refuse to increase its investment in Defense, it just said that this would take place at a slightly different time and then, in the final formula, a point of consensus was even reached that was accepted by NATO”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa added that, “in the Portuguese case, Portugal, already in the budget for next year [OE2026]which was presented, reinforces investment in Defense, is reinforcing in capabilities and is reinforcing, and should reinforce, in human resources”.
“And one of the points that I have insisted on, and will insist on until the end of my term […]is the status of military status. We need to have more soldiers, but to do that, we have to offer better conditions to the soldiers, otherwise they don’t come in or they come in and then leave […] and we need to maintain the Armed Forces with a fundamental element, which is the human element”these.
At a meeting in Washington last Thursday, Trump suggested this Saturday to his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb, that “maybe they should expel” Spain from NATO for not fulfilling the alliance’s defense spending commitments.
“They have no excuse not to do it. But that’s okay. Maybe they should expel them from NATO, frankly”stressed the North American President.
“We had a latecomer, which was Spain”Trump highlighted in the Oval Office, referring to the agreement of the Atlantic Alliance, of which Portugal is part, to allocate 5% of member countries’ GDP for defense expenses.