Council of State Leaves Portugal in the Dark Over Ukraine Aid, Venezuela Crisis

Three hours behind closed doors were not enough for Portugal’s supreme advisory body to agree on a public stance regarding the wars shaking Eastern Europe and the sudden power vacuum in Caracas. The details of the discussions on troop deployments in Ukraine and the reported U.S. special-forces operation in Venezuela come from senior defence officials and U.S. State Department sources and remain unconfirmed at press time. Instead, the Council of State left the Palácio de Belém in silence, injecting fresh uncertainty into Lisbon’s foreign-policy debate just nine days before presidential ballots are cast.

At a glance

• Council of State met on 9 January for its final session under President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

• Agenda covered Portugal’s future military role in Ukraine and the US operation that removed Nicolás Maduro

• Some councillors, including former president Cavaco Silva, walked out early

• No final statement was issued, feeding speculation about internal divisions and policy deadlock

• Meeting happens as election campaign reaches its climax, with two sitting candidates at the table

A Meeting Shaped by War and Elections

Conceived after the 1976 Constitution, the Council of State unites former presidents, parliamentary leaders, senior judges and figures elected by the Assembly to offer non-binding advice on matters of “supreme national interest.” Last week that lofty mandate collided with external crises and domestic politics.

With President Rebelo de Sousa heading into his last term’s final stretch, every silence or syllable is parsed. Two members—Luís Marques Mendes and André Ventura—are actively campaigning for the January election and used the afternoon gathering to burnish their foreign-policy credentials while skipping overlapping TV debates.

Ukraine: Balancing Solidarity and Risk

Lisbon has been among Kyiv’s most vocal supporters since Russia’s invasion, dispatching Leopard 2A6 tanks, M113 vehicles and humanitarian aid worth €250 M. The new dilemma is whether to contribute troops to a multilateral European force that could monitor a future cease-fire.

During his December visit, Prime-Minister António Costa signed an accord to assemble underwater drones in Setúbal, a project touted as the embryo of a Baltic-to-Atlantic defence corridor. Inside the Belém meeting room, generals outlined deployments ranging from a 200-strong engineer detachment to a 1 000-soldier brigade, with a budgetary hit of about 0.15 % of GDP—money critics say might otherwise fund domestic housing programmes.

Venezuela: Sudden Crisis Forces Agenda Shift

Barely 72 hours before the session, a clandestine special-forces raid executed by Washington led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his transfer to Miami on drug-trafficking charges. Lacking a universally recognised successor, the country is run by an interim administration seeking talks with the US while denouncing a “neo-colonial kidnapping.” Moscow quickly condemned the move.

For Portugal the stakes are personal and financial: roughly 200 000 Luso-Venezuelans could require assistance, and energy company GALP holds stakes in the Orinoco fields. Foreign-minister João Gomes Cravinho revealed contingency plans involving charter evacuations and dispatching a naval frigate to guard supply routes in the Dutch Caribbean.

Silence in the Palace: Why No Communiqué?

Although the law allows discretion, the absence of any written note after such high stakes surprised veterans. Participants point to three flashpoints:

Funding a long-term Ukrainian security guarantee without resorting to mutualised EU debt.

Whether backing the US operation in Venezuela would erode Portugal’s diplomatic leverage in Latin America.

The optics of firm pronouncements while presidential candidates sit at the table.

The abrupt walk-outs of Miguel Albuquerque and Cavaco Silva midway through the meeting highlighted the tensions.

What Portugal Could Do Next

Policy planners still expect concrete moves:

• Tabling defence bonds in Brussels to shield national budgets from Ukraine-related costs.

• Hosting an emergency summit with Spain and Brazil to coordinate consular assistance to the Venezuelan diaspora.

• Fast-tracking the Underwater Drone Act, granting tax credits to firms that build in Setúbal.

Reaction at Home and Abroad

Opposition leader Luís Montenegro accused the government of concealing critical trade-offs, while Mariana Mortágua warned against obeying “Pentagon scripts.” In Caracas, the interim authorities asked Lisbon to mediate, recalling the shuttle diplomacy of Mário Soares in the 1990s.

Transparency vs. Confidentiality Debate

Critics say taxpayers deserve clarity when military deployments and diaspora safety are at issue. Defenders argue that confidentiality encourages frank debate and lowers external pressure. Parliament’s committee on constitutional affairs is revisiting a bill that would force a redacted summary to be published within 48 hours of each meeting.

Key Takeaways for Residents in Portugal

– Expect heightened security checks at Madeira and Azores airports as exercises unfold.– Dual nationals should renew passports and sign up on the Consular Emergency Portal.– The share of military spending in the 2027 budget could rise, influencing tax levels and social programmes.– Any Portuguese contingent in Ukraine would likely serve under a multilateral EU flag, easing the path for parliamentary approval.

Quiet corridors may be the norm for Belém, yet the current silence reverberates across ministries, embassies and households, leaving Portugal to decide how far it is willing to project power—and at what cost.