Frequent questions.

General questions

The essentials in seven questions.

Each answer was instructed from the case's internal documentation and the communication briefing of the platform. No beating around the bush, no polarisation. Facts and sources.

• Are the arguments really environmental, or is it just opposition from people who don't want the project on their doorstep?

  The accusation of parochial opposition, or of defending purely local interests, ignores a verifiable fact: there are concrete technical alternatives that were never assessed. Bardenas Reales, in Spain, has been open to NATO allies since 1982, with 80 percent of its capacity available, at €5 to 20 million a year. Mértola was the Air Force's technical choice from 2007. None of these alternatives was publicly reassessed before the announcement. The territory of Alter do Chão has the same value as any other territory in the country; the difference is that no one asked its people whether they accepted the sacrifice.

• Isn't national defence at stake?

  No. What is at stake is the way this decision was made. Those who take national defence seriously do planning, studies and assessment of alternatives, not announcements at a press conference before any technical assessment. The Portuguese Air Force itself identified Mértola as the best technical option in 2007. Another location was chosen with no publicly disclosed criterion. Allowing national defence to be administered without criteria harms defence itself.

• Can't the State pay fair compensation to the affected farmers?

  The monetary compensation provided for in the Expropriation Code pays for the land, but does not pay for the agricultural activity that is built on it. It does not buy another profession for those who lose theirs. It is not fifty properties that are at stake: it is fifty active farms, with jobs, value chains, knowledge of generations and montados with century-old cork and holm oak trees protected by national legislation. Paying for the land does not restore this. Additionally, the expropriation of these farms contradicts the mayor's public assurance that the area would be State land.

• Does the urgency of the new airport not justify the decision?

  The invoked urgency does not meet the legal time frame. The airport is scheduled for 2034-2037, more than a decade ahead. Those who do not have time to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment today will have time to manage the administrative dispute tomorrow, with works halted due to poor instruction. Recent history of infrastructure in Portugal demonstrates that poorly instructed decisions cost significantly more than well-instructed decisions, in time and public money. Urgency without criteria does not accelerate anything; it delays everything.

• Is this a matter of political trust or mistrust?

  The issue is not one of political trust or mistrust, but rather documented coherence from the Government itself. Twenty-eight days before announcing the Alter do Chão Firing Range, the same Government approved Decree-Law 35/2026, which protects the Cabeção Special Conservation Area, where the military infrastructure will be installed. This decree was invoked before the Court of Justice of the European Union to reduce a daily compulsory fine of 41,250 euros. Announcing the violation of the diploma that has just been approved to defend Portugal in a European context is a matter of institutional coherence, not trust.

• Does the silence of some associative structures not mean that the problem is not so serious?

  The Association of Farmers of the District of Portalegre is the natural federal interlocutor of the affected farmers. Other structures have other accounts to settle. Those on the ground speak for themselves: Petition PT130367 gathered more than 2,300 signatures, clear public statements were recorded in a television report, and mobilisation is growing without the need for formal associative coverage. Institutional silence does not validate the project; it marks it.

• What can a public petition change, in practice?

  Petition PT130367 has already had an effect. It gathered more than 2,300 signatures and exceeded the threshold of 1,000 signatures that obliges publication in the Assembly of the Republic's Journal and a hearing of the petitioners in committee. Four parties with parliamentary seats presented formal initiatives, including Chega, a partner of variable geometry of this Government. The mayor partially retreated from the initial position. The Ministry had to respond publicly. Above all, the contentious window that will open with the Environmental Impact Declaration in the coming months is the terrain where the case will be decided legally, and the petition prepares that window.

Operational questions

For those who want to act.

How to get involved, what to expect from the next administrative phases, and where to find the consolidated documentation.

• How can I help the platform if I don't live in the municipality?

  In three main areas: sign and share the public petition PT130367 (no cost, with direct effects on the parliamentary procedure); intervene, when it opens, in the public consultation of the Environmental Impact Assessment on the participa.pt portal; and disclose the cause in personal and professional circles. There are also more direct ways of involvement (technical, financial, documentary) on the membership page.

• What are the next relevant administrative phases?

  Preliminary studies by the Air Force (expected deadline: 1st semester of 2026, not yet published); opening of the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure on the participa.pt portal; issuance of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS); issuance of the Declaration of Public Utility (DUP), which underpins the expropriation procedure; licensing and material start of construction. The chronology details the past and future milestones, with their respective legal relevance.

• Where is the consolidated documentation of the case?

  The complete documentation of the case and the communication briefing are in the final revision phase, with public availability expected. The pages of Arguments, Chronology, Numbers, Territory, and Actors on this portal present the consolidated elements. The documents page indexes the official diplomas and communications that frame the decision-making chain. For anticipated access in an editorial or parliamentary context, contact the platform.

• I am a journalist. How can I access editorial material and sources?

  The platform provides, upon prior request, full access to documentation, technical clarifications on the procedure and the legal framework, coordination of a visit to the territory and contact with affected farmers, visual materials for editorial use, and indication of technical and academic sources for interviews in specific areas. Details on Press and Contact. Response within five working days.

• I am an affected farmer. What should I do?

  The affected farmers are in the process of forming an association for joint technical, legal, and media representation. Initial contact via the membership form with the selection of the "Affected Land Farmer" profile or directly by email to geral@naoaocampodetiro.pt. You can also bring notifications, certificates, and institutional correspondence you have received, in confidential record.