Prime Minister-designate brings surprise government to Marcelo today | Government

The prime minister-designate, Luís Montenegro, takes this Thursday to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the composition of the groupwinter coalition with the CDS, following the recent legislative elections. With no time for states of grace and with a very short parliamentary majority, the new executive will govern in a horizon of some instability, so no one risks saying whether it will reach the end, but there are many who foresee difficulties. This Wednesday, the Prime Minister, António Costa, made note of this by leaving a warning to Luís Montenegro before the transition meeting he held at the end of the afternoon: “The new Government has many problems to solve.”

Problems aside, this time there were no leaks of information about the names included in the executive led by Luís Montenegro. The prime minister-designate will have shared his choices with a very restricted group, thus ensuring that there would be no names circulating in the public square before the government became aware of the President of the Republic. The government is scheduled to take office on April 2nd.

Whenever there is a new government, there are names that are taken for granted and, in this case, that is also the case. Nuno Melo, president of the CDS-PP, could occupy a portfolio with political weight. If the tradition of PSD-CDS coalition governments continues, Nuno Melo, who was number two on the list for the Porto district of the Democratic Alliance in the legislative elections, could take on the Defense portfolio.

Ana Paula Martins, who presided over the Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa, was invited to the Health department, PÚBLICO knows, a choice that did not leave very comfortable O independent Miguel Guimarães, who was president of the Order of Doctors. From what was possible to ascertain, the name of Fernando Leal da Costa, former Minister of Health, would have been on the table, but the choice would end up falling on the former president of the Order of Pharmacists.

It remains to be seen whether the prime minister-designate will maintain or change the portfolios of the government that is now out of office, but the most likely is that there will not be a reorganization of ministerial portfolios, because there is no time to make organic laws.

In a governance with unstable balances, the tendency is not to make very big changes, but rather to present results in the short term, that is, Luís Montenegro has to start showing results soon, creating an image of some dynamics and capacity for resolution of the problems.

Committed to launching urgent measures – as is the case with the health emergency plan – the future government controls its agenda, but there are matters that fall within the competence of the Assembly of the Republic, which require prior legislative authorization and approval. by the deputies.

Luís Montenegro’s government will have to manage very sparingly the decree-laws it approves, which may be called to the Assembly of the Republic, and the proposals that, under the Constitution, even have to pass the scrutiny of deputies. In the new political cycle, Parliament gains a new centrality, mainly because of the negotiations that are deemed necessary to prevent negative coalitions from blocking diplomas approved by the executive.

With a minimum difference of two deputies in relation to the PS bench, the new government will have to foresee which issues could lead to the decision being passed from the executive sphere to Parliament.

The government that Luís Montenegro takes this Thursday to Belém does not include the Liberal Initiative. There were talks between the PSD and IL with a view to reaching an understanding with a view to the liberals entering the government in coalition with the Democratic Alliance. Rui Rocha, leader of IL, was a supporter of the coalition, but in the party there were those who opposed it (national councilors) as they considered it not advantageous for the party.

There were also voices in the PSD that disagreed and the IL ended up being left out of the executive, but a door was opened for future understandings with the government of Luís Montenegro. “There was no marriage, it was a separation by mutual consent and with the promise of future marriage”, a social-democratic source told PÚBLICO, in a humorous tone.