Rutte claims to have “no criticism” against Portugal and Spain because they are increasing defense spending

The Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, assured this Thursday that he has “no criticism” against Portugal or Spain because they are increasing defense spending and industrial production, after his statements at the beginning of the week generated discomfort in Lisbon for suggesting that these two countries see the Russian threat “very far away.”

“I have no criticism of Portugal or Spain, because they are doing exactly what we should do: increase defense spending and increase industrial production,” he expressed in statements to the press in Dublin, upon his arrival at a summit of the European Political Community, which brings together nearly fifty European leaders.

The origin of this friction took place last week when, in statements to Dutch television, Rutte assured that “Spain and Portugal say that (the war) ‘is very far away, and what happens in Russia mainly affects Poland'” to which he responded that “Russia’s most recent missiles take five minutes longer to reach Lisbon than to Warsaw.”

Asked if he will try to meet with the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, to clarify the controversy – the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has not attended the Dublin summit – Rutte has been categorical in maintaining that he has “nothing to explain.” “Absolutely nothing,” he stressed.

Before settling the matter in this way, the Allied Secretary General did want to clarify that when he expressed himself this way he was referring to “all of Europe, and not just the case of Portugal or Spain”, in the sense that “the population, not the politicians, but the people” perceive the threat posed by Russia’s threat to Europe in a very different way depending on how far it is from the eastern border.

“There is a difference between the countries on the eastern flank, such as Estonia, Poland and others, and the rest. All I am saying is that these new Russian missiles take five minutes longer to reach Dublin, Amsterdam, Madrid or Rome than to reach Tallinn or Vilnius,” he noted.