Carneiro says he is convinced that the Government will listen to the PS on Defense

PS Secretary General José Luís Carneiro said today that he is convinced that Luís Montenegro's Government will reach the conclusion that it must listen to the PS on matters of Defense.

"I am convinced that the Government will be led to the conclusion that it really needs to engage in dialogue with the Socialist Party," said José Luís Carneiro at the end of a visit to INOVGAIA – the Base Incubation Center in Vila Nova de Gaia, in the Porto district.

Accompanied by the Socialist Party candidate for the Vila Nova de Gaia Municipal Council, João Paulo Correia, the Socialist Party Secretary-General considered that many other structures in society, the economy, companies and institutions will also make the Government see that it really has to engage in dialogue with the Socialist Party.

On Friday, the PS secretary-general sent a letter to Luís Montenegro challenging him to negotiate with the socialists a proposal for a “Strategic Agreement for a National Development and Defense Capacity Building Plan” with a defined deadline of three months.

"What this letter says is that we in the Socialist Party are available to work together, inviting personalities from the national scientific system, personalities with experience gained in the Ministry of National Defense, in the economy, in industry, in training, in education, in science and knowledge, and to bring all these personalities to the same table and build a development plan that corresponds, on the one hand, to the qualification of society, the State, the economy and, at the same time, to absorb the qualified workforce," he explained.

The socialist insisted that he was calling on the Government to work on a plan that must contribute to the development of the economy, the country's infrastructure, the creation of jobs, particularly skilled jobs, and the development of the national science system.

"We must seize this opportunity to invest in national defense over the next 10 to 15 years, alongside the European effort to invest in defense, to ensure that this investment translates into the country's economic and social development," he said.

José Luís Carneiro admitted that he was not surprised by the announcement of an increase in investment in Defense to 2% of GDP this year.

"In fact, it was the commitment we made to the Prime Minister to follow through on the 2% of GDP effort by 2025. We were surprised that 3.5% was committed," he noted.