PM designate meets with President (to announce choices), leaving after 15 minutes
After the build-up through the day, with commentators ‘revealing’ hour by hour the new names chosen to lead Portugal’s 24th government, PM designate Luís Montenegro made his meeting at 6pm with President Marcelo, and left after 15 minutes – giving no statement to waiting journalists.
Critics have been giving their take on the 17 new ministers – some a great deal more positive than others (most fairly laconic).
The trouble with this ‘new government’ is that too many suspect any sparkle will quickly dull, even tarnish irreparably, before the year is out.
One ‘positive’ for the Algarve at least – a region that traditionally suffers scant consideration from central power – is that new PSD MP Miguel Pinto Luz has a key role as minister of infrastructures and housing. As such he will be ‘at the helm’ in the future privatisation of flagship airline TAP – something some critics have said counts against him, as he was involved in the first privatisation, in the Passos Coelho era, and that ‘didn’t go well’…
Another potential positive is that the new minister of health, Ana Paula Martins, is a former head of department at Santa Maria Hospital/ chairman of the board of directors of the Lisbon North hospital centre and knows only too well the issues that need tackling in the health service – potentially the first of these being unpicking the last executive’s unpopular ‘reforms’.
Taking it from the top, this is the list of Portugal’s incoming government:
Prime minister – Luís Montenegro
Minister of State and Foreign Affairs – Paulo Rangel
Minister of State and Finance – Joaquim Miranda Sarmento
Minister of the Presidency – António Leitão Amaro
Minister for Territorial Cohesion – Manuel Castro Almeida
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs – Pedro Duarte
Minister of Defence – Nuno Melo
Minister of Justice – Rita Júdice
Minister of Interior Administration – Margarida Blasco
Minister of Education, Science and Innovation – Fernando Alexandre
Minister of Health – Ana Paula Martins
Minister of Infrastructure and Housing – Miguel Pinto Luz
Minister of Economy – Pedro Reis
Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security – Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho
Minister for the Environment and Energy – Maria da Graça Carvalho
Minister of Youth and Modernisation – Margarida Balseiro Lopes
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries – José Manuel Fernandes
Minister of Culture – Dalila Rodrigues
Many of these names are experienced politicians, quite a few with previous responsibility as Euro MPs. As was stressed when AD won the elections earlier this month, President Marcelo wanted ministers this time with proven track records – and no skeletons (visible) in any cupboards.
This, in many ways, has been ‘the easy part’: the real hurdle will come once the new government is sworn in (on April 2) and then presents its four-year programme: the programme has to be debated, and accepted, by parliament, right now an environment – for a minority government of the centre right that refuses to strike deals with the more right-wing CHEGA – that could be compared to a tank full of hungry piranha fish.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
