Portugal has no guidance telling citizens what to do in a crisis (the last one dates from the 1960s)
A forward-looking study by EuroDefense Portugal, led by General Luís Valença Pinto, finds the country dismantled the civil preparedness structures it had in the 1950s and 60s and never replaced them.
If tomorrow brought a prolonged blackout, an attack on critical infrastructure or a national security emergency, most people in Portugal would have nowhere to look for instructions. No leaflet, no handbook, no published plan. That is the uncomfortable finding of a forward-looking study by EuroDefense Portugal on armed forces capabilities and the defence economy out to 2035, coordinated by General Luís Valença Pinto, a former chief of the general staff.
The study is not written in an alarmist register. It is written in an administrative one, which somehow makes it land harder. Portugal did once have structures designed to prepare society for serious crises, in the 1950s and 60s, and it dismantled them without building anything comparable.
What it asks for
A national doctrine joining up four things that currently operate separately: the armed forces, public institutions, civil society and the essential sectors of the economy. Valença Pinto argues the country needs to drop its peacetime mindset and plan for an international environment of permanent confrontation, geopolitical instability and newer threats, from cyber operations to supply-chain disruption.
Several European countries got there first. Sweden has for decades posted a booklet to every household explaining what to do in a crisis or war, and Finland treats strategic reserves and shelters as standing state policy. Portugal’s defence debate has mostly been about how much to spend and on what timetable, and barely touched the part that involves ordinary households.
Why this lands now
The work sits inside a European debate that has accelerated sharply over the past two years, with NATO and the EU pressing member states to treat civil resilience as part of defence rather than an afterthought. The European Commission has gone as far as recommending every household keep 72 hours of food and water.
Portugal no longer enjoys the geographic comfort it had for decades, the general argues. His answer is that resilience cannot be bought purely in equipment — it means rebuilding an institution whose job is to prepare society. The association’s work is published on the EuroDefense study on armed forces capabilities and the defence economy in 2035.
Image: EuroDefense Portugal
