Even before taking office, the government’s choice for the new minister of internal administration has started making waves.
Luís Neves – a career criminal investigator and former national director of the PJ judicial police – has told a podcast (to be broadcast next month) that the low salaries paid to PSP police agents are ‘unacceptable’, and that “as a citizen, as a police chief, and as a police officer at heart, I will always say that, fundamentally, the forces must have better conditions”.
Neves was speaking at the time to Rádio Renascença – and it is unclear whether he knew that he was about to be nominated for the role vacated at the height of the storms’ crisis by Maria Lúcia Amaral. But the fact is that he is now in a pole position to ensure better conditions for the country’s police forces.
Luís Neves was nominated for his new role at the heart of government on Saturday.
He will be sworn into office on Monday morning by President Marcelo – and his appointment has already seen a degree of optimism expressed, particularly as the last two ministers were widely considered to have been less than effective.
PS leader José Luís Carneiro has welcomed Neves’ appointment, describing the new minister as a “strong personality” in an otherwise “weak” administration.
Neves, 60, will need to be strong. The expertise that he has shown running the PJ over the last eight years – with some truly notable arrests and investigations – will now have to adapt to the requirements of overseeing the running of all three police forces (PJ, PSP and GNR), and coordinating Civil Protection nationally. It is an enormous job, and when it is done badly (as was the case with the last two incumbents) there is nowhere to hide.
Tracing his career this far, SIC Notícias recalls that Neves has already picked up a number of prestigious awards: The Cross of Police Merit, attributed by the Spanish minister of interior in 2004, as well as the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Spanish Guardia Civil, attributed in 2007. He has also received an honour from the Vatican.
“Apart from having to start preparing for the next wildfire season, Luís Neves comes to the Ministry of Internal Administration at a point where it has (been given) the mission to reform Civil Protection – which the government had promised for the end of 2025 but which the prime minister has since said will come after the wildfire season – and make changes to SIRESP (the internal emergency communications network)”, says the news outlet.
SIC adds that the previous minister was “in a process of negotiation with PSP syndicates and GNR associations” but that this was going forwards “under protests, with the largest police syndicate already having abandoned negotiations in December”.
On top of having to sort out what are long-standing police ‘salary and conditions’ issues (and threats by syndicates of protests), Luis Neves’ new brief will also include the problems that have arisen at the nation’s airports (due to the implementation of Europe’s frontier control system that had to be ‘suspended’ recently because of enormous queues that were starting to damage Portugal’s touristic allure).
Source material: SIC Notícias/ Lusa
