DEFENCE SPENDING TENSIONS RISE

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has reaffirmed Portugal’s commitment to increasing defence spending to 2.0% of GDP by 2029, but some other NATO countries, particularly the United States, say that is not nearly good enough. 

At the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that countries failing to meet the 2.0% target would have to reach it within “a couple of months”, not years. This was in the face of different threats from Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Rutte met Montenegro this week in Lisbon, and the Portuguese prime minister said he would do his best to bring forward the 2.0% target date. He later told a press conference that both his PSD-led government and other parties, most notably the opposition Socialists, were strongly committed” to meeting the defence spending goal, but that the deadline would depend on a task force involving the foreign, domestic defence and finance ministries, “which could be extended to other areas of government.” He added that the country’s productive and industrial capacity needed to be increased and enhanced for long-term viability. 

The Portuguese prime minister stressed that the US in particular should be aware that the 23 European Union members of the North Atlantic Alliance collectively already spend more than 2.0% of their GDP on defence. 

“I’m not avoiding the responsibility of Portugal to do this as quickly as possible,” he said, adding that it is necessary to act as a bloc to redefine objectives, policies, and investments to be effective. 

Increased investment in the defence industry will mean greater autonomy for Europe, safeguarding the European economy and, as a result, safeguarding the European welfare state, said Montenegro. 

NATO Secretary General Rutte’s insistence that the urgent increased spending also applied to Spain.  At a meeting with Jose Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, Albares like Montenegro confirmed his country’s intention of spending 2.0% of its GDP on defence by 2029. 

Foreign Minister Albares told reporters that Spain had been increasing its defence spending “for years”, and it was “getting close” to the 2.0% goal. Spain’s defence budget currently stands at 1.8% of GDP. 

President Donald Trump is expected to increase pressure on European countries for a defence spending rise to 5.0% of GDP, while, threatening to pull the United States out of NATO altogether if they fail to comply. 

In view of the war in Ukraine and the possibility of further Russian expansion, top EU foreign affairs official, Kaja Kallas, told the recent annual conference of the European Defence Agency in Brussels that member states need “to wake up.”

 

The troubles of tariffs

Portugal has called on its United States and European allies to greatly enhance dialogue to avoid US tariffs that could prove harmful to people in all EU countries, especially the least wealthy.

The Portuguese Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento made this appeal on Tuesday, the day after Donald Trump assumed the presidency.

“We will analyse the decisions of the US administration and try to strengthen economic ties,” Portugal’s finance minister told the Reuters news agency and other reporters in Brussels.

“It is necessary to have a constructive attitude of dialogue, but also naturally in defence of what is in the interest of Europe and its member states,” said the finance minister.

Trump has already declared that a tariff of 25% could be imposed on his two neighbours, Canada and Mexico, as early as 1 st February. Increased tariffs are almost certain on Chinese goods entering America. However, nothing definite has yet been announced about tariffs on Portuguese and other European exports

TRIAL SET FOR ALGARVE’S QUINTA DO LAGO RESORT

 

A trial centred on a scandal within the Algarve luxury resort of Quinta do Lago is scheduled to take place on 27^t of this month.

 

The trial will focus on the alleged assault by one senior employee on another last year. David Combrink, a former colleague from Topaz Energy in Ireland, of Quinta do Lago CEO Sean Moriarty is alleged to have physically attacked the Quinta’s former head of security, John O’Gorman.

 

This incident is aid to have been witnessed by other staff members as well as captured by an internal, but since destroyed, camera video.

 

The alleged crime has brought about unwanted attention on the owner of Quinta do Lago, the wealthy Irish businessman Denis O’Brien, who also owns property on the Caribbean island resort of Canouan. in the Caribbean. So his connection with the Quinta do Lago scandal has been of considerable interest to a Caribbean daily news publication, the St. Vincent  Times

 

It has reported that, “Interestingly, Quinta do Lago’s legal counsel, Carmen Baptista Rosa, has disappeared from the case.” She is a director of the Portuguese-British Chamber of Commerce and head of the PMLJ law firm in the Algarve.

 

According to a reliable Algarve source in addition to the St. Vincent  Times, Carmen  Baptista Rosa “somehow” managed to convince the prosecution’s office  that she was representing the plaintiff, not the defendant, It is alleged that she became registered  as the victim’s lawyer in court in order to gain access to all of John O’Gorman’s  criminal filings.  If so, this would amount to a major corrupt breach of lawyer ethics.

 

PORTUGAL AND USA STRENGTHEN MILITARY TIES

Portugal’s close military relationship with the United States has strengthened further with a new bi-lateral announcement this week.

 

Just days before Donald Trump takes over again in Washington, a ceremony took place in the Lisbon offices of the Ministry of National Defence marking Portugal’s accession to the US National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program.

 

Said Portugal’s Minister of National Defence, Nuno Melo in the presence of the United States Ambassador to Portugal,: “I have no doubt that this partnership will strengthen military cooperation between our two countries, intensify what are already excellent bi-lateral relations, and the strong diplomatic, commercial and cultural ties that unite Portugal and the United States.”

 

The new arrangement is despite Donald Trump’s condemnation of low defence expenditures in most European Union countries, including Portugal. Trump has also shown little solidarity with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), of which Portugal is a founding member.

 

As reported by the Lusa News Agency, Nuno Melo emphasised in Lisbon this week that Portugal and the United States are “historic allies” that have contributed to peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area for the past 75 years.

 

So absolutely no weakening of the alliance seems likely under Trump’s second presidential term. On the contrary, the new arrangement is intended to reinforce military cooperation and comes after threats of further Russian expansion almost two years after its invasion and increasing bombardments in Ukraine.

 

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will end the Russia-Ukraine war the day he takes over as president. Let’s see what happens on Monday.

 

Meanwhile, the strongly pro-Trump USA-Portuguese community in Fall River, Massachusetts (mentioned in Portugal Newswatch last week), has been reading about the new military partnership program in a Fall River newspaper, The Herald News. It has noted that the program can lead to “joint exercises, sharing of expertise in disaster response, and collaborative efforts to address mutual security and defence challenges.”

 

Created in 1993, the State Partnership Program has been “successfully building relations for more than 30 years, and now includes 105 partnerships with 115 nations around the globe,” according to the United States National Guard website.

 

US-PORTUGUESE FAVOUR TRUMP

 

The Portuguese people living in the United States are mostly in favour of  President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, according to reliable sources.

 

“Trump will be welcomed by Portuguese living on the east coast and all the way to the far west,” says Carolina Marcos, editor of the Portuguese American Journal.

 

Born in the Azores, like many other US immigrants, she has lived for many years in Boston, Massachusetts. One example of Trump's popularity, she says, is in the Massachusetts city of Fall River. She acknowledges that Portuguese residents helped other voters there to “embrace Trump and his harsh stance on immigration.” 

 

Carolina Matos was unhappy with both candidates in the December presidential election but notes that not only did Trump win in 2024, but he also had a higher percentage of votes in 2020 than anyone since Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. 

 

Journalist Ben Blake, reporting from Fall River, has clearly shown that although support for Democrats there dominated the community for 70 years, it has greatly fallen because most locals have moved to the right and are now pro-Republican and pro-Trump.

 

Blake visited Fernando’s bar in Fall River where the bar manager, Lucy Oliveira, serves Portuguese dishes such as pork sandwiches and bifanas to a crowd of regulars.  The locals told Blake that nearly all of them support Trump, each for personal reasons. One of Trump’s most liked characteristics is his “toughness.”  Lucy Oliveira said Trump’s brand as a successful businessman resonates because of Fall River’s post-industrial economic slump. “Everyone wants Trump because the economy is so bad,” she said. 

 

Daniela Melo, a Portuguese professor at Boston University, joked that “you can’t understand the politics of Mass unless you  understand how the Portuguese think.” She says that Portuguese attitudes currently stem party from President John F. Kennedy’s immigration laws, which allowed so many Portuguese to enter the country in the 1950s. Many came from the Azores with Fall River sometimes being referred to as “the tenth island.”

 

The number of people immigrating to the United States dropped dramatically when livelihoods in Portugal improved after the overthrow of the dictator Salazar In 1974.

 

The Portuguese have integrated into American society like the Jews, Irish, and others. Many Portuguese families are now in the second, third, or fourth generation in the United States.

 

In California, it was predicted that the Portuguese community might tip the balance of power in the US Congress. Reporting internationally from the small town of Thornton in California’s Central Valley, Faith E. Pinto, a staff reporter for the Los Angeles Times described Portuguese flags flying proudly above the streets thronged with festive season revellers. Portuguese people from all across the Central Valley flocked to Thornton to celebrate. There was a parade, several Catholic Masses, and even a bullfight. It was a delightful occasion “to share food, language, and culture of families quietly, but powerfully, tucked away in Californian farmlands, according to the Los Angeles Times.  

 

“You don’t have to be Portuguese to get elected in the Valley – but it doesn’t hurt,” joked Jim Costa, a US politician.

 

“Far away from the centres of power in Washington, a small but sizable Portuguese population has played a meaningful role in shaping the Central Valley – and the community’s politics could prove crucial,” wrote Faith Pinto. 

 

Latinos far outnumber the number of Portuguese immigrants in California’s Central Valley. “Although the Portuguese are now generations deep in the Valley, many are still close to their immigrant family roots. And in many ways, the story of Portuguese people in California – just over 350,000, according to the 2020 US census – follows the arc of many immigrant groups in the US”. 

 

Generation by generation, Portuguese worked their way up to become supervisors, managers, or owners of farmlands in California. Portuguese politicians have been vying to represent their region, and now most are welcoming Donald Trump. 

 

At a “Farmers for Trump” rally involving tractors and trucks blaring their horns and flying Portuguese flags down a two-lane highway, Kenneth Rose, who called himself 100% Portuguese, perched himself on a pick-up truck and declared: “I’ve seen enough. I don’t need any more liberalism in this country.”

 

FESTIVE SEASON NUMBERS RISE

 

 

Statistics in certain sectors in Portugal have risen over the festive period, according to various reports by the Lusa national news agency.

 

The value of Christmas shopping between 1 and 24 December increased by 15 %, over the same period in 2023. MB WAY (Multibanco) Christmas shopping rose by over 40%

 

The PSP police arrested 349 people for road offenses between Christmas and the New Year. 230 of the arrests were for drink-driving.

 

A record twenty deaths occurred on Portuguese roads during the “Operation Christmas – New Year 2024/2025” conducted by the GNR police

 

Statistics just released show that overnight stays in tourist accommodation rose by 4.1% from January to November to over 76 million. The increases for residents was 2.5% and for non-residents 4.8%

 

The year-on-year inflation rate stood at 3.0% in December, 0.5 percentage points more than November, according to an estimate just released by Statistics Portugal

 

A new study shows that 70% of people in Portugal have expressed concerns about processing personal data through artificial intelligence (AI) systems used by financial institutions. This puts Portugal’s wariness well above the European Union average, which stands at 52%

 

 The Independent Doctor’s Union and the government have just reached an agreement that provides for an average salary increase of 10% by 2027.

 

The legal age to withdraw from work (retire) is to rise by two months to 66 and nine months, according to a new government order based on estimated average life expectancy and data revealed by Statistics Portugal (INE)

 

Entrance fees to national museums have just gone up by between two and seven euros.