Minister of National Defence Nuno Melo defended a 5.8 billion euro investment in the armed forces through the Instrument of Action for European Security (Instrumento de Acção para a Segurança da Europa or SAFE). The government claims the loans are a “unique opportunity” to modernize equipment and cover full life cycles of military assets. Portugal has now reached the NATO target of 2% of GDP in military spending. Taxpayers should note that the government has refuted accusations of a lack of transparency regarding these loans.
Portugal hits NATO spending target with 5.8 billion loan
Thursday, 12 March 2026AI summary
Context & Explainers
Nuno Melo is the leader of CDS-PP (Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular), a Christian democratic party on Portugal’s centre-right, and Minister of National Defence in Luís Montenegro’s government, where CDS-PP governs in coalition with the PSD. He was previously a Member of the European Parliament.
