Portugal's navy sees off cost-cutting plan

The leaders of Portugal's military forces are furious at a clumsy government attempt to confine naval patrol ships to port to save money.

Naval officers say the cost-cutting measure would leave the long Portuguese seaboard – a main European entry point for cocaine and hashish from Latin America – open for drug smugglers.

The uproar forced Rui Pena, the Defence Minister, to reverse the order on Thursday shortly after he issued it, but he saidmoney would be taken elsewhere from military budgets.

"It's a total nightmare," said the former armed forces chief of staff Admiral Fuzeta da Ponte. "It means an absolute lack of security the length of our maritime frontier, and leaves it completely free for drug smugglers."

The Admiral-in-Chief, Vieira Matias, visiting the United States last week, said he was considering his position.

The dispute comes at a critical time for Portugal's enfeebled Socialist government, which has been forced to call an early general election next month. It also follows an embarrassing warning from EU partners that Portugal was losing control of public finances.

Eduardo Ferro, the Socialists' leader who took over after Antonio Guterres resigned in December, said the armed forces were exploiting their problems as an election gambit, and insisted the military must remain subordinate to political decisions. Admiral da Ponte condemned a loss of "military capability, sovereignty and national independence" and blamed Jorge Sampaio, the Socialist President.