Portugal's Munitions Factory Should Have Its Executive Agreement Signed Next Week, the Defence Minister Says
Nuno Melo wants the state to hold 35 to 51 percent of a plant costing about 45 million euros. At the same event the head of the military police asked for a new organic law to replace one from 2009.
Portugal is due to sign the executive agreement for its planned new munitions factory next week, the Defence Minister, Nuno Melo, said on Wednesday. It would be the first concrete step towards restoring an industrial capacity the country once had and lost.
"Portugal once had a great deal of strength and capacity in producing munitions. It disappeared, we lost it. Braço de Prata, for example, but not only that. We are going to produce munitions in Portugal," Melo told reporters. "I can tell you that, in principle, next week the executive agreement on munitions will be signed."
He was speaking on the sidelines of the 51st anniversary ceremony of the Polícia Judiciária Militar (PJM), the military criminal police, held at the Navy Museum in Lisbon.
What is known about the factory
The government first announced its intention to rebuild domestic munitions production about two years ago. Melo has since said the state wants a stake of between 35 and 51 percent in the plant, which is expected to cost around 45 million euros and create "more than 100 jobs". His remarks on Wednesday, as reported, named neither the partners in the agreement nor the site of the factory.
The announcement comes the day after Melo set out the cost of three new frigates before parliament's defence committee, when he put the Portuguese industrial share at 8.3 percent, as we reported in our account of the frigate bill.
The military spending law is still pending
Asked when the government will send parliament the new Lei de Programação Militar (LPM), which sets public investment in equipment for the armed forces over 12 years and must be revised this year, Melo gave no date. He said he would meet next week with the working group drafting the proposal, which includes the armed forces general staff and the three branches, and noted that some of the steps depend on the Finance Ministry and on approval by the Council of Ministers. The Navy chief, Admiral Nobre de Sousa, has told Lusa he wants the proposal to include a third submarine and replacements for the helicopters that fly from the frigates.
The military police want a new legal footing
The ceremony itself produced a pointed appeal. The PJM's director-general, Rear Admiral Paulo Isabel, called for a "legal refoundation" of the force: a revised organic law, approval of a staff statute and deeper integration into the national internal security system. The organic law dates from 2009, he said, and in the 17 years since, "crime has been transfigured". The law, he said, now acts "as a real anchor that ties us to the past".
He also complained that the PJM is the only criminal police body without a multi-year investment instrument. The armed forces have the LPM, the interior ministry and the justice ministry have their own plans, and the PJM depends on annual budgets with no carry-over of balances. He proposed either including it in the LPM or giving it a dedicated programming law, and warned that without enough military staff seconded from the armed forces and the GNR, its capacity could be hollowed out.
Melo said changes to the organic law and the statute, and investment in investigative tools, are being studied, and that he shares the director's vision, which is why he had just reappointed him. He added that the timing does not depend on his ministry alone, and that the way the PJM recruits may need rethinking.
