1. The military escalation by NATO against Yugoslavia, orchestrated and lead by the USA, under the pretext of the situation in Kosovo, assumed in the past few days disturbing proportions. The USA, which has long since taken the decision to impose its hegemony in the Balkans, pressured its allies, both within NATO and outside it, and even bypassing the UN and the Security Council, into supporting and participating in operations of war against Yugoslavia. Crucial decisions are being announced for today, on a political and operational level, that open the way to aggressive military actions against a sovereign country.
2. In view of such a situation, the Portuguese Communist Party underlines once more its firm opposition to Portugal's military involvement in the conflict. Following the previously expressed strong criticism and condemnation of the extemporaneous statements by the Minister of the Defence, the Portuguese Communist Party considers any decision to provide Portuguese military means for NATO operations against Yugoslavia, without a previous debate and vote in Parliament, to be legally inconsistent and politically unacceptable.
3. The PCP stresses that the complex question of Kosovo is basically, and in its essence, an internal problem of Yugoslavia, whose solution must necessarily be sought through negotiation and political commitment and not through internal repression or the threat or use of military force on an international level.
4. The PCP underlines that what we are witnessing is a unilateral "police" action by the USA, using NATO for its own imperialist purposes, with arrogant disrespect for the most elementary norms of international Law and contempt for the role of international organisations, such as the UN and OCSE, in the preservation of peace and security.
5. The consequences and repercussions on a European and world level resulting from NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia would be extremely serious. It is necessary to do everything to prevent them, expressing firm opposition to any involvement of Portugal in a dangerous military adventure which has unpredictable consequences.
