Bolieiro Walks the Açores Into the First Conferência de Regiões in Ponta Delgada on 12 May Asking for More US and NATO Troops at Lajes — Regional President Pitches the Atlantic Archipelago as a Submarine-Cable and Data-Centre Hub for the Alliance

The president of the Açores regional government, José Manuel Bolieiro, walked into the first Conferência de Regiões in Ponta Delgada on Monday 12 May 2026 and answered the obvious question that has hung over the Lajes file since the United States resumed intensified use of the Terceira-island airbase in February. Asked whether the Açores want more troops from the United States and from other NATO members deployed on the archipelago, Bolieiro answered, on the record: 'Sem dúvida. Dos Estados Unidos e também da NATO.' The conference, organised jointly by Diário de Notícias and Açoriano Oriental, was the first of its kind and brought regional leaders from across the country to the Açores capital.

The geopolitical pitch

Bolieiro's argument runs through three lines. First, that the Açores have become 'um território cada vez mais relevante do ponto de vista geopolítico e geoestratégico' for Portugal, for the European Union and for NATO — a position the regional government has been pushing publicly since the spring 2026 escalation in the Middle East and the corresponding intensification of US refuelling-aircraft movements through Lajes. Second, that if the United States is now considering troop reductions in continental European deployments, those forces would be 'absolutely welcome' on the Açores instead of being withdrawn entirely from the Atlantic theatre. Third, that the alliance with Washington can productively be extended beyond defence headcount to include US investment commitments in the archipelago's economic priorities.

The non-military spending list Bolieiro tied to the offer

Bolieiro listed four specific dossiers in which he wants to see US and NATO economic contribution to the Açores anchored alongside any reinforced military presence. The first is submarine-cable security — the Atlantic archipelago sits on the most heavily-trafficked transatlantic submarine-cable corridor in the world, and protecting that infrastructure from sabotage has moved up the NATO threat ladder since the 2022 Baltic Sea incidents. The second is data-centre development, with Bolieiro citing publicly the negotiations the regional government has had with Google for a data-centre facility in the archipelago. The third is the blue economy and marine research, where the Açores already host the EMEPC (Estrutura de Missão para a Extensão da Plataforma Continental) and want to anchor permanent NATO research access. The fourth is the space industry, with the Santa Maria launch facility serving as the existing peg.

The Lajes Agreement file in the background

The Acordo de Cooperação e Defesa between Portugal and the United States, governing the Lajes Base, was last revised in 1995, when the financial counterparts of approximately US$40 million per year that the Açores received for the use of the military infrastructure were eliminated. Bolieiro has spent the past two months pushing publicly for a revisão of that agreement when 'the opportunity arises,' citing the increased geopolitical and geostrategic value of the archipelago. Asked whether the moment is now, he conceded that it is 'perhaps not exactly the right moment' to talk about renegotiation, but said that as soon as that window opens, the revisão is a matter of 'justice' given the relative weight Lajes carries in the current US Atlantic posture.

Where the file sits inside the national government

The Bolieiro intervention runs in parallel with the broader Portuguese defence file that Defence Minister Nuno Melo has been pushing through Brussels on Tuesday at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, where he told reporters Portugal is 'tendentially against' a fully integrated European army and prefers a NATO-pillar architecture. The two threads converge on the same operational conclusion: that Portuguese national-defence policy is anchored in the transatlantic alliance, that the Açores are the most concrete embodiment of that anchor, and that the regional government wants reinforcement rather than rebalancing.

What the Conferência de Regiões is

The first Conferência de Regiões is a new annual gathering of regional and metropolitan leaders organised jointly by the two Açores-based national-distribution newspapers — Diário de Notícias and Açoriano Oriental — with mainland câmara presidents, metropolitan-area mayors and academic specialists. Bolieiro hosted and used the platform to frame the Açores question for the inbound participants. The next edition will move to a mainland venue.

Sources: Diário de Notícias, 12 May 2026; Açoriano Oriental; Observador; SAPO; Conferência de Regiões transcripts.