Rubio visits Portugal, praising a 'great ally' and looking to build deeper ties

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Portugal on the last leg of a three-nation tour of NATO allies.

Rubio arrived in Lisbon on Thursday for a brief stop on his return to Washington, a day after delivering a speech in the Greek capital of Athens urging European countries to save Western civilization by upholding the values and traditions of ancient Greece.

Rubio, who began his trip in Iceland , is expected to thank Portuguese officials for supporting U.S. operations in the Iran war by allowing the U.S. to use the Lajes Field air base in Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores islands, which is strategically located for military refueling flights.

The U.S. Air Force has long had a base there under an agreement with Portugal. Unlike neighboring Spain, where Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez refused to allow the American military to use Spanish bases to stage operations for attacks on Iran, Portugal’s center-right government granted Washington “conditional approval” to use Lajes Field.

“Portugal is a great ally, very cooperative ally of the United States and a country with which we already have a solid and growing relationship. And we visit these countries in order to reinforce those ties,” Rubio said before departing Athens. “That’s the purpose of the trip.”

Spain’s position infuriated President Donald Trump, who has fumed publicly on numerous occasions about its government and other European countries he deems insufficiently supportive of his administration’s policies.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said the approval didn’t include hostile actions that go against international law. Members of the government said Portugal was performing the duties of a U.S. ally.

Some Portuguese political parties balked at the move. Following a formal complaint by a small left-wing political party called Left Bloc, the country’s attorney general’s office said last week it is looking into whether the use of the Lajes Field base was lawful.

As one of the smallest members of NATO and the European Union, Portugal is keen to cultivate its relations with bigger countries.

Portugal, a country of fewer than 11 million people, spends just over 2% of its GDP on defense, according to NATO. The government says it plans to increase defense spending to around 3%, including dual-use investments in civilian infrastructure. Portugal has around 25,000 military personnel, the alliance says.

“I’m asking our allies to be strong,” Rubio said in Greece. “We want a strong Europe.”

Lajes Field was first used by the United States in World War II. After the war, Lisbon and Washington signed a formal agreement for the Air Force's use of the base, which has a long runway to cater for heavy military aircraft.

The base was scaled back after the end of the Cold War and now mostly handles the refueling of trans-Atlantic military flights.

A previous Portuguese center-right government also supported U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq.