The PCP repudiates the objectives of the visit to Portugal by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, which is part of a process of pressure and blackmail to increase military spending and promote a warmongering drift, objectives that are contrary to Peace and Portugal's interests.
We should bear in mind that Mark Rutte, who behaves like a real business representative of the military industrial complex, is the same person who publicly advocates cuts in healthcare, pensions and social benefits, in order to further increase the funding of the escalation of arms and war, in line with the dangerous increase of the policy of confrontation at international level, for which NATO is particularly responsible, along with the US and the EU.
Just as the many thousands of people who took part in the demonstration “It's urgent to put an end to the war! All together for Peace” on January 18 in Lisbon, the PCP does not accept and is fighting against the objectives of cutting wages and pensions, public services, the right to healthcare, education, social security and housing, in order to transfer means and resources to the industry of war and death.
What the people and youth need is for resources, investment, science and research to be put at the service of the development and social progress of peoples, for solving the problems that affect Humanity, and not for armaments and war.
The 32 countries that make up NATO are already, all combined, responsible for more than half of the world's military spending, but it seems that, for its leaders, spending on arms escalation seems to have no bounds.
War, arms escalation and sanctions only serve the interests of the economic groups - particularly the arms industry - which accumulate colossal profits at the expense of deteriorating living conditions and rights.
As reality is showing, security, which is a right of the people, cannot be achieved with more and more sophisticated and destructive weapons.
Collective security is achieved with more diplomacy, more political solutions to conflicts, more agreements on disarmament and more respect for the principles of the UN Charter and international law.
While some see the dangerous international developments as a business opportunity, the PCP sees the warmongering drift headed by NATO as a path that has tragic consequences and serious dangers for the peoples and constitutes the most serious threat facing Humanity.
War means death, suffering and destruction, representing the most brutal aggression against the rights of peoples, as shown by the cruel reality experienced by the Palestinian people who resist Israel's genocidal policy.
Portugal must be a promoter of peace and not an instrument of war. The Country has to ensure the needs and conditions for our Armed Forces to carry out their constitutionally enshrined mission, must detach itself from NATO's warmongering strategy.
In line with the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and within the scope of its external relations, Portugal must strive for disarmament and contribute to the peaceful resolution of international conflicts and Peace.
The PCP calls for the strengthening of mobilisation in defence of peace, disarmament, the dissolution of political-military blocs and the establishment of a collective security system, with a view to creating an international order capable of ensuring Peace and justice in relations among peoples.
The world needs Peace, development, social justice and progress, solidarity, friendship and cooperation among peoples - not more militarism, more weapons, more war, to which NATO is committed.
