If Republican candidate Mitt Romney wins the US presidential election in November, Washington will abandon the current plan to reduce its presence at the Lajes air base in the Portuguese Azores islands, according to a campaign aide.

“This is something Gov. Romney would specifically oppose”, Adolfo Franco, a Romney spokesman in Massachusetts, told news agency Lusa Sunday, 26 August, referring to the Obama administration’s plan to reduce US Air Force personnel at Lajes.

The plan would represent a “great setback for bilateral relations with Portugal” and “a big (security) error”, Franco added.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the Pentagon’s intention to cut back in the Azores last February and bilateral talks have been underway since on the “modalities” of the reduction.

The scenario has led to concerns in the Azores, as the US military presence on Terceira Island represents a major source of employment and revenue for local businesses.

(Photograph: José Luís Ávila Silveira/Pedro Noronha e Costa/Wikipédia)