PM designate on way to Belém this evening
Portugal’s prime minister-designate, Luís Montenegro, will present the composition of his minority centre-right government to President Marcelo in Belém Palace today, before being sworn in next Tuesday (April 2) at the Ajuda National Palace.
The timetable was announced late last Thursday, when the PSD leader was appointed prime minister by the country’s head of State shortly after midnight.
At the time, Mr Montenegro said he expected to form a government based on a majority “made up of PSD and CDS-PP MPs”, since he does not have the support of an absolute majority in parliament, nor of any other parties.
Montenegro and the ministers of the 24th Constitutional Government will be officially sworn in next Tuesday, with secretaries of State appointed two days later.
Outgoing Prime Minister, António Costa, “received Luís Montenegro at the official residence of São Bento” yesterday in what Lusa describes as “a sort of passing of the baton in the leadership of the executive”.
The day before, PSD and IL (Iniciativa Liberal) declared that they were not going to move “at this time towards the conclusion of broad agreements”, including those concerning the formation of the new government – meaning the AD alliance is very much ‘on its own’ in what has already proved a very rocky situation.
Once next week’s swearing in ceremony is out of the way, the next step will be to present the government’s programme, writes Lusa.
According to the Constitution, this document with guidelines for governance over the next four years is submitted to the Assembly of the Republic within ten days of the government appointment, meaning by April 12.
The Constitution also states that a government can only take full office after its programme has been examined by parliament, if it has not been rejected. That last part will be key, as there are no certainties with this new government, and no allies. Following the ups and downs of the last few days, CHEGA leader André Ventura has stressed that unless the government enters into an agreement with right-wing CHEGA which more than quadrupled its parliamentary representation in the March 10 elections, “the country needs to prepare for years of instability”.
Source: LUSA/ Correio da Manhã
