Portugal’s minister of diplomacy confirms Marco Rubio ‘didn’t actually mean what he said’ – Portugal Resident

What a merry dance Marco Rubio began when he sat comfortably on Air Force One last week, and extolled the virtues of countries like Portugal.

His praise set off a veritable bombshell of recriminations here, leading to defence minister Nuno Melo trying to put the record straight over the weekend, and Portugal’s ‘minister of diplomacy’ attempting to add the finishing touches to the narrative today.

What Marco Rubio said “was not said literally”, Paulo Rangel has insisted – using the moment to lambast what he sees as PS Socialists’ “manifestly unacceptable attitude”.

At a point where far more serious matters are on the global agenda (even the national agenda), Portugal is still chasing its tail over the ‘Lajes air controversy’: Rubio claims the country ‘said yes’ to the arrival of military hardware even before the U.S. asked for authorisation; Portugal maintains it set ‘provisos to be met’, questions to be answered, etc etc.

And, seemingly as a way of deflecting all this unwarranted attention, Paulo Rangel has taken a leaf out of the PSP book (the PSP trying to shame critics of airport border control by telling them their attitude is damaging the image of the country) The minister hasn’t accused the PS of that yet – but there is always time.

For now, Rangel has agreed, in principle, to explain the conflicting narratives in parliament on Wednesday, insisting nonetheless that “there are various interpretations that can be made over what Mr Rubio said” – the one he personally prefers being that the “affirmation” (that ‘Portugal said yes before they even knew what the question was’) “has no literal value”.

Rangel’s interpretation is the one shared by Nuno Melo – so in that respect it does look as if the government has its ducks in a row.

But the fact remains that there are other interpretations that can be made over what Marco Rubio said, thousands of miles away from Portugal – and up in the air, en-route to China. He said that contrary to some other countries, Portugal gave its authorisation for the use of Lajes Air Base, in the Azores, without questioning what that use was for.

In refuting this more literal interpretation, Paulo Rangel has done what looks like an elaborate dance on the head of a pin.

In the words of Expresso, he has “made a separation between the authorisation that was given before the attack on Iran, and afterwards”.

“From the moment in which there was an attack, there was a formal authorisation and it was given. Before that, Lajes air base was used like all European air bases in February,” Rangel explains. “There was no difference for any country until February 28.”

If this explanation satisfies opposition parties, the hearing in parliament on Wednesday will be very brief, and possibly even good natured.

Expresso reaffirms that Rangel is particularly upset by the PS reaction (PS parliamentary leader Eurico Brilhante Dias has called it a “humiliation” for Portugal “of planetary dimensions”). Rangel intimated he expected stick from the more radical left wing (PCP and Bloco de Esquerda parties), but he didn’t expect the PS to join them – particularly as in the past the PS seems to have aligned with the government’s position on Lajes.

Source material: Expresso