Relations between States are not based solely on the confluence of interests, nor on the relative size or strength of each one. That Paulo Rangel wants to please the North American Administration, even if Trump doesn’t even know where Portugal is, that’s up to him. That he does so at the expense of the self-respect that is due to our country and as head of Portuguese diplomacy already embarrasses us all.
This is not the first time that the tenant of Palácio das Necessidades has tortured facts for rhetorical purposes. The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, regarding the increase in the number of military aircraft stationed on the island of Terceira and the US use of the Lajes Base for military operations against Iran, told journalists that “any other operation need not be authorized, known or communicated.”
So let’s get to the facts. THE Cooperation and Defense Agreementcurrently in force, dates from 1995 and replaced that of 1951. Cooperation and Defense Agreement it also integrates two other agreements (less known, but no less relevant): the Labor Agreementwhich regulates the labor relations of Portuguese people serving the USA, and the Technical Agreement, which authorizes and regulates the use of infrastructure in and around Lajes by North Americans. It is the latter that determines that Portugal grants authorization to the USA for the use of the facilities and for the transit of military planes at the base and through the airspace of the Azores and that Portugal will “favorably view” requests to use the Base for military operations resulting from decisions by international organizations of which the two countries are members, such as, for example, NATO.
Any other use by the USA that does not fall within this type of operations must have prior authorization from the Portuguese side. Furthermore, it would not even be understood if this were not done, including taking into account the core principles of relations between States, which include the sovereign equality of States, non-interference in internal affairs, the prohibition of the use of force, the self-determination of peoples, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, among others.
In these almost 80 years, this base has demonstrated its geostrategic relevance, notably, for example, in the Gulf War (1991), in which it supported 12,000 aircraft operations, with 33 refuelers operating in Lajes, a number much higher than the 12 recently used in the operation against Iran and which, in fact, are very similar to those recorded in the II Gulf War, back in 2003.
Therefore, the idea that the US can use that base, even under the Cooperation and Defense Agreementwithout giving a damn to the Portuguese State, gives us a subalternity and a diminishment that weakens our negotiating position and offends the institutional and sovereign dignity of one of the oldest States in Europe, with more than 880 years of history.
Finally, the Portuguese State, so quick to please and not show respect, has been practically non-existent in the need to resolve the environmental liabilities that result from the North American presence in Lajes and even less present in enhancing the unique geostrategic position that the Azores give us in the North Atlantic. That would be a way of valuing what is ours and strengthening our position vis-à-vis the USA.
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