Helena Carreiras asks that “retrograde ideas” not prevent the Armed Forces from having everyone – Politics

The Minister of Defense asked this Monday that the “retrograde ideas and intolerance of some” do not prevent the Armed Forces from counting on “the talent and competence of everyone”, remembering that she was the first woman to hold the position.

“It is important to remember that the value of equality is one of the constitutional values ​​that we swore to defend and that we cannot defend a value that is not assumed or exercised. The Armed Forces have made a remarkable journey here and are an example for society. I hope that this legacy can be expanded. Let us not let the retrograde ideas and intolerance of some prevent us from counting on the talent and competence of all those who want to serve Portugal in its Armed Forces”, he defended.

Helena Carreiras was speaking at a military farewell ceremony from the Armed Forces held this morning, in Belém, in what was her last public act as Minister of Defense.

In her intervention, the governor expressed pride in having been the first woman to occupy these roles and listed a set of measures taken during her mandate, such as the increase in funds for Defense in the State Budget, the fulfillment of goals within the scope of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) or the aid provided to Ukraine.

Helena Carreiras also thanked the current military leaders for “the frontality” in the institutional relationships they had.

“For knowing that persistence and serenity must prevail beyond the foam of the days, that the noise of circumstances should not divert us from the path. For knowing that this is done by taking responsibility, making changes and not just waiting for changes to come to us suggested or that ideas come from outside”, he stated.

The governor also appealed to military leaders to resist, “as they have until now, the self-fulfilled prophecies and catastrophist visions of the engineers of chaos, to continue facing head-on, in conjunction with the tutelage, the countless challenges of National Defense.”

“In the year in which we celebrate 50 years of April 25th, we must be collectively proud, and remind the world of the central role of the Armed Forces in the process that brought Democracy to our country. And how exemplarily they knew how to find their place in the constitutional order , always swearing to defend the homeland at the risk of his own life. And defending the homeland means today, more than ever, defending democracy”, he concluded.

Maria Helena Chaves Carreiras, 58 years old, is a specialist in military sociology and university professor, with published work on women in the Armed Forces, and was the first woman to direct the National Defense Institute (IDN).

The president of the CDS-PP, Nuno Melo, will be the next Minister of National Defense in the XXIV Constitutional Government, led by the social democrat Luís Montenegro, who takes office on Tuesday.