Gouveia e Melo says ‘navy doesn’t lie’ about Mondego case

The Navy’s chief of staff acknowledged this Thursday that the Mondego affair “has weakened the Navy’s image,” but that the agency “doesn’t lie” and that the findings of the internal process will be known within a month.

“Of course, this Mondego affair has weakened the image of the Navy. However, I would like to note that the Navy is a very large organization, not 13 people,” said Admiral Enrique Gouveia e Melo.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the presentation of the anniversary program for the Navy Day in Porto, the chief of staff of the Navy said that he could not talk about the ongoing processes, but added that in about a “month” they would be known the conclusions of the internal process.

“These are processes that are ongoing, and also, in order to guarantee all possible protection to those involved in these processes, they need to be done with care. This is not an attempt at speed, which subsequently also damages the protection of people, ”he added.

The navy chief of staff also said “the navy doesn’t lie” when asked if there were any overlaps between the 13 soldiers’ complaint and the mission that was aborted by the same ship in the Selvagens Islands in Madeira. .

“The Navy does not lie, there are many of us, even if we wanted to lie, we could not lie. The Navy has many witnesses, many people involved in the processes. this is a procedural incident, there was no failure in the incident. Unfortunately, it was a coincidence, and bad coincidences happen,” he stressed.

The Mondego has been at the center of several controversies since early March, first when 13 soldiers refused to embark on a mission to escort a Russian ship off Madeira, and then later in the month due to a breakdown during the mission.

Gouveia e Melo said the main challenge facing the navy at the moment is to be “a catalyst for the opportunity that the sea gives Portugal”, saying he does not view the navy from a “purely military” perspective, but ” more extensive.”

Asked about the project to expand the Portuguese continental shelf, Gouveia e Melo said he was “confident” that Portugal would expand its territorial platform, even if it would not “fully comply with the request” made at the UN.

“Whatever the outcome, it will be a very positive outcome for Portugal and it will be an outcome that will provide an opportunity for the resources of a potential future, and the future is not what we see it today, on land, the future is also maritime. activities and an economy entirely based on the sea,” he added.

However, Gouveia y Melo stressed that this is a “very slow” process and that “it will take years”.

The Portuguese Continental Shelf Extension Project, which has been coordinated by the Mission Framework for the Continental Shelf Extension (EMEPC) since 2005, began with the UN in 2009. With the extension of the continental shelf, Portugal could receive an exclusive economic zone of about four million square kilometers, which corresponds to almost 90 % sea in the European Union (EU).

“We are not even halfway through the process yet,” he said, but said the country must prepare and will not be able to “improvise” when these areas are made available.

“These years make us think about a navy that is different from what we have today, a navy that is completely reliable, more technologically advanced and that focuses not only on military aspects, but also on additional aspects, related to being a real tool for those who were in these operations,” he added.

The proposed extension aims to guarantee sovereignty over the natural resources that exist on the seafloor and underground outside Portugal’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone.