Portugal will ask the European Commission to activate an escape clause that allows an exception to the European Union’s budgetary regulations so that countries can cover a increase in defense spending.
With the clause, defense spending up to a maximum of 1.5% of gross domestic product will not be included while determining whether some of the spending limits are reached, Portugal’s finance ministry said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, who is facing an early election on May 18, said Portugal will move forward with a plan to meet NATO’s defense spending goal, although he did not provide a new timeline. The government had planned to reach the goal set for NATO allies of defense spending equal to 2% of gross domestic product in 2029. Defense spending within the country reached an estimated 1.55% of GDP in 2024.
Portuguese government indicated that it is also going to keep posting budget surpluses each year and has forecast the surplus for the current year as 0.3% of GDP.
