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When being empowered as the Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, you are assuming, General Pina Monteiro, the highest office in the military hierarchy, in a process that took place with the moderation and security that is determined by the routine of the “changing of the guard” recommended by the cohesion and the stability of the Armed Forces.

A word of thanks is due to General Luis Araújo, at the moment when he relinquishes his office, due to the dedication, competence and professionalism with which he discharged his duties and by the relevant services he rendered the Country and the Armed Forces.

General Pina Monteiro assumes his office at a particularly difficult time in our national life and of deep challenges for the Military Institution. It is a time demanding great responsibility and broad consensus between the sovereign bodies in order that, in the national interest and duties of State, conditions are ensured for the preservation of the matrix on which is based the normal functioning of the Armed Forces.

Within the complex financial situation the Country has been going through, the Armed Forces have been showing the highest possible professionalism and a great sense of responsibility. The effort of containment has been strongly revealed, both individually and institutionally, and the Armed Forces have endeavoured to overcome the reduced availability of resources through commitment and provision of services, both in the exemplary compliance of their missions, and in the finding of solutions that are adequately contrived to the Country’s capabilities. This outstanding attitude and institutional culture, in which the permanent concern of the Armed Forces is to place the Country’s interests in the foreground, bring legitimacy to the expectations of all its members in that the required reforms are positively and constructively based on a notion of the future, so that they are not simply considered as a strictly budgetary exercise.

The maintenance of stability, cohesion and discipline of the Armed Forces, the union and cooperation between the Branches, the existence of the indispensable conditions for the exercise of command by the Military Chiefs and, justly so, a relationship between the Military Chiefs and the Tutelage based on loyalty and directness, are essential assumptions towards the success of the reforms.

The involvement of the Chiefs in the study, in the development and in the carrying out of reforms is a practice that ensures that the specificity of the institution is taken into account in the decision making process.

General Pina Monteiro,

The importance and the institutional feature of the Armed Forces, pillar of national sovereignty and identity, demand a resolute and responsible commitment in the process of the ongoing reforms.

I identify two fields of action that should deserve the attention of the Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff. First of all, the preservation of operational capability, to ensure the compliance of missions within and without the National Territory, a very relevant factor of motivation for staff and troops. Secondly, the People. The People who are the faithful trustees of the determination, the drive, the knowledge and the values of the Armed Forces and which are, after all, their finest asset.

The preservation of operational capability requires human and material resources adequate to maintain the necessary levels of the forces’ training and operation. Military Health is taken here as an indispensable tool of the National Forces System, to ensure their operability, to increase confidence, ethics, efficiency, self esteem and welfare of the troops.

In this field, it is necessary that the process of installation and operation of the Armed Forces Hospital is successfully completed.

The performance of the Armed Forces owes much to the individual value and quality of its members. However, in situations of great constraint, difficulties are felt more directly and intensely by individuals.

It is thus important that the actions of the Command are centred on individuals, providing special attention to the material problems of the members of the Armed forces.

Deserving of special care are all those that, although not in direct service, are faced with especially needy and fragile situations, such as is the case with the Armed Forces Handicapped Persons and of the former combatants and their families, to whom the Nation has the duty and moral obligation to render the required support.

General Pina Monteiro,

Your Excellency has the enviable professional performance of an already lengthy military career, carrying deep knowledge of issues concerning National Defence and the Armed Forces, as well as that concerning the International Organizations on Security and Defence in which Portugal is a member, all of these features that qualify you for the office in which you have been empowered.

It will be your duty, as main military counsellor of the sovereign bodies in the field of National Defence and with increased responsibilities at the level of the operational command of the Forces that include Health and Educational issues, to exercise the office of tutelage inherent to the Command function, accompany the preparation of the structural legislation, and contribute to the taking of decisions within a climate of cooperation, cohesion and consensus with the area’s responsible politicians, for the good of the country and of the armed forces.

I congratulate you once again General Pina Monteiro. I am certain that you will know how to find the appropriate means to comply with the demanding mission with which you are now entrusted, and in which you shall have the support and solidarity of the President of the Republic and Supreme Commander.