Gouveia e Melo avoids selfies, rejects Mandatory Military Service and asks for “time” to break the taboo

Gouveia e Melo arrived at the Law School half an hour early and was immediately approached by student fans who asked him to take selfies . The admiral and potential presidential candidate wanted to make a difference to the current head of state and countered with a real photo. “ Selfies are very popular” , he commented to Observador nearby. The potential presidential candidate — the last of the five presidential candidates to participate in the SEDES conference in two days — tried to dispel any doubts . He immediately assured that he rejects the return of the SMO and was even more emphatic: “ I am not a supporter of Compulsory Military Service , I am a supporter of something more intelligent”.

Gouveia Melo, in front of an audience of young people, wanted to guarantee that he would not send them to a system like the one that existed in the 90s. Opponents have recalled that the admiral — in an opinion piece published in Expresso in March 2024 — admitted the possibility of resorting to this type of recruitment. Now he says that there is “no need ” to return to that system and adds that “ scaring young people with the word SMO [Mandatory Military Service] is the worst thing there is”.

But what system does he propose? Gouveia e Melo talks about a “ smarter model”, which involves having a group of military volunteers, already trained in the military, who can “go on with their lives”, but become reservists (who can be called up at any time). These “military volunteers” with the “right incentives” — such as, for example, “tax inspectors” — would be able to “be quickly called up for active service”. However, he warns, with a hint of presidential spiciness thrown in: “That is up to the government. Although I may give my advice”.

Another ghost that Gouveia e Melo wanted to dispel was the attack on the Welfare State. Henrique Gouveia e Melo — who admitted the impact of social spending to offset the increase in Defense spending in January — now comes to explain better what he defends. The potential presidential candidate says that it should not be the increase in Defense spending “or” the increase in social spending, but “and”. In other words, reconciling both.

He even says that “we should not cut the welfare state, which is what guaranteed European security”, but then adds a “however”: “However, we have to defend our society”. And he considers that “efficiency” (or even GDP growth) can help to compensate for what the welfare state may have to lose in order to invest in defence. And he adds: “The welfare state’s expenditure is 64/65%. If we use 64.5%, the welfare state will not collapse the next day. ” Here he allows for a half percent cut in social expenditure, although the ideal would be for the country to grow: “With GDP growth, the availability to increase defence and social expenditure increases”.

Gouveia e Melo then quotes Paul Samuelson to say that it is not necessary to choose “between cannons and butter ”, but that it is necessary “cannons to protect the butter and butter to feed the people”. For the admiral, European countries should focus on deterrence. Furthermore, he says that more than capacity (which he says Europe has more than enough compared to the Russian Federation), Gouveia Melo says that “will” will count.

The room was so full for Henrique Gouveia e Melo that Marcos Perestrello (his panel partner, together with moderator Maria Castello Branco) joked about the fact that the room was full and there were still people standing: “Gouveia e Melo is at an advantage [compared to other putative candidates]. Everyone notices that the auditorium fills up like this because of my own notoriety .”

As he left, Henrique Gouveia e Melo showed that he was (still) not used to the barrage of questions from journalists, but he answered them. He said that running for president was not taboo and downplayed public appearances and opinion pieces. “For years, I was limited in my civic participation. Now I am no longer,” he said. When asked if he was now “closer” to being a candidate for Belém than when he left as Chief of the Navy General Staff, he cut the question short again: “I am freer.”

Gouveia e Melo only became less comfortable when asked if not announcing was not a kind of dishonesty towards the Portuguese: “No. So I am here to answer all the questions. We need to give it time.”