António Costa announced the move at the end of a parliamentary debate on the forthcoming European summit on 14 and 15 December, which focused on the controversy over European defence cooperation, after opposition parties PSD and CDS threatened to vote against resolutions on the subject.

"All the conditions will be explained in the resolution of the Council of Ministers that will be adopted tomorrow, namely what we have already said some 30 times and that will be in black and white in the resolution: we do not support a European army, [...] nor do we support it being seen as an alternative to NATO," he said.

"We have supported the development of the new European Union (EU) policies, not as an alternative to NATO, but as a complement to NATO," Costa added, following a discussion in which PSD and CDS-PP said they were against the European army.

In the regular cabinet meeting on Thursday, Costa said, the Council of Ministers will approve a resolution to allay all the doubts of the two right-wing parties, reiterating what, he said, has already been stated by the government.