The minister stressed that “indiscipline” in the Armed Forces is “unacceptable”

On Monday, the Defense Secretary said “acts of indiscipline are unacceptable” in the armed forces and that attitudes such as those of 13 soldiers who refused to board the Mondego put “the country itself” at risk.

“Acts of indiscipline in the Armed Forces are unacceptable, they endanger cohesion, they endanger the security of all and therefore the country itself, our collective security,” Elena Carreiras said at the end of the European Union (EU) Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

With regard to the specific case of the 13 military personnel who refused to board the Mondego ship of the Portuguese Republic (PRP) on the 11th, citing a lack of security conditions, the Minister of National Defense insisted on the need to wait for the investigation carried out by the Ministry of the Public and in accordance with the “procedures provided by the Code of Military Justice”.

Helena Carreiras has been questioned about an alleged complaint filed on Sunday by lawyers for 13 soldiers on the Mondego that “there is evidence that has been erased” by the navy, so a request for evidence will be made.

“I don’t want to comment on this case. This case is being investigated, there is a disciplinary proceeding, the public ministry is investigating, we will let this happen,” the Minister of National Defense replied.

However, Helena Carreiras said that she was “absolutely confident that the Portuguese Armed Forces have the capacity and conditions to carry out their tasks with great efficiency.”

“From this point of view, we may be concerned about some of the deficit that we actually have in maintenance and operation, and this is what we are doing. My remit here, as a government, is to take policy and action to deal with these problems that we have, for reasons that we all know from several decades without a war, when, in fact, this issue was not raised with such a sharpness,” he concluded.