The President of the Government considered that the reference to the need for reassessment of the infrastructures at Lajes Air Base, included in the U.S. Defence Budget for 2016 that approved today at the U.S. Senate, is a further step towards the defence of the role that this base must continue to play in the relations between Portugal and the USA.

"This is another important step along this path to defend the role that the Lajes Air Base may continue to play in the bilateral relation between Portugal and the USA. This position has been defended by the Government of the Azores as well as by a significant group of friends of the Azores at the U.S. Congress, including Congressman Devin Nunes," said Vasco Cordeiro.

The President of the Government welcomed the approval of the National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 by the U.S. Congress Wednesdays. This concludes the legislative process in both chambers of Congress on the approval of the budget law defence for next year.

The version approved today, which will now be signed by the U.S. President in order to enter into force, 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.

Following the final approval, the President of the Government stressed that it is "the third consecutive year that the U.S. Congress has been in favour of a careful analysis to be carried out by the U.S. Department of Defence on the potentialities of Lajes Air Base."
According to Vasco Cordeiro, this approval "should not be the cause for false expectations. We are facing the reduction that is already underway at Lajes Air Base; however, it does not exempt the U.S. Government from its responsibilities in dealing with these impacts." Nonetheless, it gives us the motivation to continue striving for the island of Terceira and the Azores in this process.

According to the Defence Budget, no fund from this budget can be spent on the construction of phase 2 of the Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex 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 an 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 Committee of the Congress the analysis of the operational feasibility of the use of the Lajes Air Base for the installation of information services, the presence of war planes for air-to-air training or naval forces.