The Association of Enlisted Personnel (AP) admitted, this Tuesday, to looking with "amazement" at the possibility of applying mandatory military service as an alternative punishment for "petty crimes", suggested by the Ministers of Defense and Internal Administration, considering that it is a "crazy" and "outlandish" idea.

"We look at this with tremendous amazement, because we do not agree with this issue. We do not agree if this is a fixed idea of the Minister of National Defense, we do not agree with it and we have more than enough reasons to disagree, based on the principle that the Armed Forces are not an extension of any social reintegration center, nor an extension of a house of correction", said, in statements to Notícias ao Minuto, the president of the AP's board, cabo-mor Paulo Amaral.

The reaction, it should be noted, comes after the Minister of Defense, Nuno Melo, defended last weekend, in Aveiro, that military service could be an alternative for young people who commit petty crimes instead of being placed in institutions that, "in most cases, only function as a school of crime for life", an idea supported by the Minister of Internal Administration, Margarida Blasco.

Cabo-mor Paulo Amaral stressed that the Armed Forces "are a secular institution" that deserves "dignity", as do all those "who serve there, who will serve there and who have served there".

In a response addressed to the Minister of Internal Administration, the official suggests that the government official look "first at her home", in a reference to the lack of personnel in the police forces.

"Regarding the statements of the Minister of Internal Administration, what I am pleased to say on behalf of the Association of Enlisted Personnel is that the Minister should first look at her home. She is so convinced that young people who commit petty crimes can move on to the Armed Forces to correct these petty crimes, they could also, and we leave this suggestion, join the PSP and GNR forces - with due respect that I have for the comrades of the PSP and GNR - because both the PSP and the GNR also have a lack of personnel", he said.

Paulo Amaral stressed that "it is not with this type of measure that the lack of personnel in the Armed Forces will be resolved", recalling the importance of valuing the military's salaries.

"This type of measure is completely crazy, they are outlandish ideas", he considered. "There are men and women who have served in the Armed Forces for 20 and 30 years, so is this a shame? Is this a punishment they are suffering? We are comparing this as if it were a punishment", he added.

In Paulo Amaral's opinion, these statements do not "dignify the Armed Forces".

"What dignifies and will dignify the Armed Forces is an assertive and effective valuation of the contributory career and then also an effective valuation of the careers, namely in the enlisted personnel career", he defended.

It should be noted that the National Association of Sergeants (ANS) and the Association of Armed Forces Officers (AOFA) also spoke out against the words of Nuno Melo and Margarida Blasco.

It should be recalled that, on Saturday, Nuno Melo defended, at the European University, a political training initiative of the PSD, that military service could be an alternative for young people who commit petty crimes instead of being placed in institutions that, "in most cases, only function as a school of crime for life", while stating that there are no political conditions to re-impose mandatory military service.

On Monday, the Minister of Internal Administration agreed that mandatory military service could be an alternative for young people who commit petty crimes. In statements to journalists, at the end of a seminar, Margarida Blasco said that the Minister of Defense "obviously spoke on behalf of the entire Government".

"What we have to admit is that all solutions are the Government's intention to implement them, adapting them to the current contexts which, as you know, are very demanding", said the government official.

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