The President of the Government considered that the enactment of the US Defence Budget for 2016 with a reference to the need for reassessment of the functions of Lajes Air Base as "good news," especially after President Obama's veto over a first version of this law.

"Now the law is enacted and will come into force, thus concluding the step that had to be taken by the Congress. Now, this issue has to be addressed by the Department of Defence, which has the obligation to submit a report to evaluate other possibilities for the use of Lajes Air Base," said Vasco Cordeiro.

The President of the Government spoke after being informed that President Barack Obama had enacted the National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, recently approved by the US Senate.

The law maintains the demand that U.S. Secretary of the Defence presents, until March 1 next year, a report on the infrastructures of Lajes Air Base, including the possibility of installing an information centre.

Vasco Cordeiro stressed that this is a process that naturally meets the expectations of the Regional Government, "which has been committed to the reaching a good resolution, either in the resizing phase of US forces at Lajes or in the possibility of other uses for that infrastructure."

"The fact that this law has been enacted and, as a result, the Department of Defence is required to present this report is cause for satisfaction and a reason to consider that the work we have developed over time has yielded results," added Vasco Cordeiro.

However, the President of the Government stressed that this enactment does not complete the whole process, but is a significant step towards the evolution of the situation.

"This phase naturally focuses on what the Department of Defence must prepare and we hope that, within the dates stipulated by law, the report will soon be presented," said Vasco Cordeiro. In this context, he recalled that the Azorean Government has provided information to help the decision-making process regard the possibility of installing the "Information Analysis Centre" at Lajes, which was initially planned of the United Kingdom.

"The final phase of the Congress intervention demands that we address a word of recognition to all those who were part of what I called a "coalition of friends of the Azores" at the US Congress, namely congressmen Devin Nunes, Jim Costa and David Valadão, as well as to other members of congress who took active part in this process", noted Vasco Cordeiro.

 "We will continue working and committed to ensure that the Azores continue to be at the centre of the relation between Portugal and the USA. As a result of the work carried out by the Azorean Government, often in a discrete manner, we expect to continue collecting fruits in the future," assured the President of the Government.
 
According to the Defence Budget, now approved, no fund from this budget can be spent on the construction of phase 2 of the Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex at Croughton Air Base in the UK until the Secretary of Defence certifies the Defence Committees of the Congress that the UK continues to be the ideal place to locate this information centre, based on the analysis of the operational requirements of the United States.

The Congress also determined that, until March 2016, the Secretary of Defence should also present to the Defence Committees of the Congress the analysis regarding the operational feasibility of the use of Lajes Air Base for the installation of information services and the presence of war planes for air-to-air training or naval forces.