The Minister of National Defense stated this Tuesday that he received the “technically bankrupt” Arsenal do Alfeite and that he took out loans of around two million euros to pay salaries and fulfill tax obligations. “We received a technically bankrupt Arsenal do Alfeite, with countless ships retained well beyond the deadline set for their maintenance, causing great damage to the fulfillment of missions, to the effectiveness of the Portuguese Navy, but what we will have to respond”, said Nuno Melo, in a regulatory hearing at the parliamentary Defense committee.
According to the minister, “something has to be done because at this moment there is even an inability to generate sufficient revenue to pay salaries and tax obligations“. “I just arrived at the Ministry and the first measure we had to take was to facilitate, grant, request, a loan of one million and four hundred thousand euros to pay salaries and tax obligations. A week ago we had to defer another amount of 936 thousand euros. No arsenal survives in these conditions”, he warned.
The government official stated that the equipment at Alfeite “is obsolete, inappropriate for the current Navy”. According to Nuno Melo, the ratio between workers and administrative staff is “one administrative worker for one worker”, highlighting that Alfeite needs qualified professionals.
The minister also warned that deadlines for completing work are not being metgiving as an example the submarine Tridente, which is 30 years old and will remain “in a shipyard for three years”, considering that this is a “very serious situation”.
Later in the hearing, Nuno Melo said he had requested that he be presented, within 30 days, with a set of “possibilities for resolving the current tragic financial situation of Arsenal do Alfeite and proposals regarding to possible measures that aim at another model that guarantees the Portuguese Navy what the Navy needs”.
PCP deputy António Filipe expressed concern about the current situation of this company, blaming the lack of investment in recent years, and asked the minister whether he would not think it would be better for Arsenal to return to the Navy, after being privatized in 2015, but Melo did not respond.
In the past, Arsenal do Alfeite has already experienced serious financial problems that resulted in delays in wages and even Christmas bonuses in 2020 for the more than 400 workers who make up this company, responsible for repairs. maintenance of Portuguese Navy ships.
Last year, the president of the board of directors of Arsenal do Alfeite, José LuÃs Serra, warned that the company had facilities and equipment that were many years old, some with functional and safety problems, he highlighted. I believe, however, that in 2022, after six consecutive years of losses, the arsenal closed the year with positive net results.
At the same hearing, the minister announced that the Government is studying the construction of a munitions factory and again assured that it will increase salaries in the Armed Forces, without implement values now. In his first procedural hearing in the Assembly of the Republic, Nuno Melo announced that “very soon” he will take details about the factory to parliament.
“It’s one of the areas in which we know that the entire European Union, I would say the Western world, is in deficit. The need to produce ammunition has been identified at Government level and very soon I hope to be able to bring this ammunition factory to fruition”, he stated.
Nuno Melo highlighted that this construction “has rules”, such as the evaluation of investors, the business model, location, State participation, and also a profit perspective, arguing that the Defense industry “can be profitable”. “We have already identified some partners, locations, we are studying possible business models and this will be implemented in due course”, he added.
Nuno Melo said he is working on measures to increase salaries in the Armed Forces, which will be presented “soon” without specifying, for now, values or dates.
In response to criticism from the PS coordinator for Defense, Luís Dias, who accused the government official of not taking concrete decisions and being “in a military tourism amusement park” in the branches, the Defense Minister only guaranteed that “in six months” will do much more than previous socialist governments did in eight years.
“In these six months, Mr Deputy will have an increase in salaries, increased supplements and better conditions for former combatants and, therefore, Mr Deputy, enjoy there during the last few days or weeks you have left, you never know , this ‘don’t do’ thing because soon what you’re going to say is ‘did'”, replied Melo.
At the beginning of the hearing, the minister and president of the CDS-PP highlighted that “since 2009, the military has not had salary updates”, a statement contested by the PS which recalled the reinforcement of fixed component of the military condition supplement last year.
Regarding the replacement of F-16 fighters with F-35already requested by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force under penalty of loss of air sovereignty, Melo only said that the country will have to “in due time, opportunely think about the replacement” of those planes, taking into account “the amounts involved, which are not few”.
The minister stated that the Government is “finalizing the implementation of an aircraft in the image of the KC-390 which has given great results, from the Embraer base with Portuguese technology incorporated”, the Super Tucano aircraft.
Melo added that, if this investment progresses, “there are already intentions to purchase from NATO and non-NATO countries”, highlighting that an aircraft has ideal characteristics to operate in Africa where Portugal has several missions.
During the hearing, the PS and PSD exchanged some accusations about the lack of investment in the Armed Forces, with the PSD Defense coordinator, Bruno Vitorino, arguing that the socialists “should apologize” to the military and the consider unfair the comparison between the term of office of the current PSD/CDS-PP minority executive with the years of socialist government.
The minister also highlighted several times throughout his interventions that he only has around three months in office and rejected the idea that he took “few measures”.
Melo also added that the Air Force will make available, “this being the wish of the Ministry of Health”, two helicopters for medical emergency actions in the health sector.”
Regarding international missions, the government official stated that Portugal currently has 34 active missions with 1,755 military personnel involved, and that the Government intends to maintain them and “even increase”.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was also a topic at the hearing, after BE’s parliamentary leader, Fabian Figueiredo, questioned the Defense Minister about whether he thought there should be an arms embargo on Israel.
Melo, who stressed that a “personal opinion” was at stake, replied that no, that Israel has the right to defend itself and that in a conflict “there is not just an angel and a sinner”.
