July 2 Statement of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) Press Office "NATO Summit – boosting confrontation and war" regarding the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain June 29 and 30:
1. The conclusions of the NATO Summit, held on June 29 and 30, in Madrid, prove the aggressive nature and the bellicose character of this political-military bloc, which continues to boost its strategy of confrontation and war and is confirmed as the greatest threat to peace and the peoples of the world.
NATO, contrary to what it claims, is not a defensive organisation, nor does it have anything to do with an alleged concern for peace, security, freedom, democracy or human rights. In reality, and since its inception, it has been a political-military bloc determined by the objective of imperialist domination, responsible for supporting fascist regimes – such as the fascist dictatorship in Portugal, which was a founding member of NATO in 1949 –, for supporting coups d’états and the imposition of sanctions and blockades, for wars. NATO is an aggressive organisation that disrespects sovereignty, democracy and the rights of millions of human beings. NATO in Europe does not mean peace, on the contrary, it is deeply associated with the wars on the continent after World War II, as was seen in Yugoslavia and is now obvious in Ukraine.
The fallacious and hypocritical propaganda operation that, grossly distorting reality, accompanied the holding of this Summit, does not conceal that NATO is responsible for wars, such as against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan or Libya, for disrespecting international law, the sovereignty and rights of peoples, for the growing militarisation of international relations and the bolstering of war-mongering alliances and partnerships, for the worsening of the situation in Europe and around the world.
The NATO Summit, continuing decades of warmongering policy, not only reaffirmed decisions it had taken a long time ago, but also adopted new decisions, including in terms of its aggressive strategic concept, which is a matter of great concern, and calls for a clear denunciation and firm rejection by all those who defend peace.
2. Among other serious aspects, the NATO Summit pointed to the continuation of: a significant increase in military spending, with the 30 countries that make up NATO already responsible for more than half of the world's military expenditure; the arms race, with the development and procurement of new and more sophisticated weapons; the militarisation of the European Union, as a European pillar of NATO and in complement to this political-military bloc; the increase in its military forces; the strengthening of the US military presence in Europe and the deployment of more military means in Eastern Europe; decades of continued NATO expansion increasingly into Eastern Europe, including the enlargement to Finland and Sweden, targeting Russia – features of the policy that are at the origin of the worsening situation in Europe and the current war in Ukraine.
The NATO Summit aimed to further boost the confrontation with Russia, a strategy that is part of the instigation of an escalation of war in Ukraine, rejecting a necessary and urgent negotiation process with a view to a political solution to the conflict and reaffirming the decisions of its Summit in Bucharest, in 2008, whose declaration pointed out the objective of the integration of Ukraine and Georgia in NATO.
After carrying the war into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, NATO no longer hides its real aim of asserting itself as a “global organisation” of an offensive nature. Particularly serious is the aim, stated at this Summit, of promoting its destabilising and warmongering action in Asia-Pacific – a serious and dangerous intention made clear with the participation of Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea in this Summit –, targeting the countries and peoples of this region, and in particular China.
3. Downplaying contradictions among the great imperialist powers, the conclusions of the NATO Summit are in line with the strategy of confrontation and war determined by the US – and to which the great powers of the EU are subordinated –, through which they seek to impose their global hegemonic dominance, embodied in a so-called “rules-based international order” that is in conflict with the principles of the UN Charter and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.
The escalation of confrontation and war promoted by NATO is inseparable from the attempt by the US, and the great powers of the EU, to respond to the serious crisis they are facing and to counter their relative decline, seeking to contain and reverse the process of rearrangement of forces which takes place on a world level and which objectively questions imperialism’s hegemonic rule.
The PCP underlines that the strategy of confrontation and war by the US, and its allies, is not aimed only at Russia and China, but at all countries and peoples that do not submit to the dictates of the imperialist powers that pursue a policy of interference, threats, blackmail and aggression, the imposition of sanctions and blockades, the attempt at political and economic isolation, with the aim of preventing sovereign options for development and international relations and the control of resources, namely natural resources.
4. Reiterating its positions on the worsening situation in Europe and the conflict in Ukraine, the PCP condemns NATO's escalation of confrontation and war, contrary to the interests of workers and peoples, and reaffirms its alert on the serious dangers that a such an escalation entails, namely in terms of higher global levels of confrontation.
The PCP stresses the hypocrisy and cynicism of those who, claiming that there are no resources to raise wages or to reinforce public services, decide to allocate billions to fund the escalation of confrontation, war and sanctions promoted by NATO, which will serve as a pretext for new attacks on the living conditions of workers and peoples.
The PCP condemns the Portuguese government's alignment with NATO's escalation of confrontation and war, in a clear expression of submission to US interests, which is contrary to the interests and aspirations for peace of the Portuguese people.
Underlining the importance of the initiatives in defence of peace that have been carried out in Portugal, the PCP calls for the development of the struggle for peace, against fascism and war, the escalation of confrontation, aggression and interference by imperialism, against the enlargement of NATO and for its dissolution, against the arms race and the militarisation of the EU, for agreements on the control, limitation and reduction of arms, for the end of nuclear weapons, sanctions and blockades, for respect for the rights and sovereignty of peoples, for the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference, for the construction of a new international order of peace, sovereignty and social progress – in coherence with the values enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic.
The world aspires to peace, not to the path of militarism and war into which imperialism wants to draw humanity.