The Council of Ministers meeting began at 8:30 am. A press conference is planned at the end, which should take place in the early afternoon at the prime minister’s official residence.
Meanwhile, there was a break in the work so that a photograph of the government cast could be captured in the gardens of São Bento.
Luís Montenegro and the 17 ministers who make up the minority Executive of the Democratic Alliance took office late Tuesday afternoon, at the Ajuda National Palace – 23 days after the legislative elections.
The inauguration of the Secretaries of State is scheduled for next Friday.In his inauguration speech, Luís Montenegro challenged the PS to clarify whether it will lead a “democratic opposition” or constitute a blocking force.
“Not rejecting the Government Program in Parliament does not just mean allowing government action to begin. It means allowing its execution until the end of the mandate or, at the limit, until the approval of a motion of censure”maintained António Costa’s successor.
The Government, stressed the Prime Minister, “is here to govern the four and a half years of the legislature, it is not here on shift”, or to “just do the easiest thing”.
“We are not interested in semantic games or sterile politics. If this Government, as I hope and know is the desire of the Portuguese, has its parliamentary investiture and assumes the full extent of its powers, it will begin to plan and implement structural reforms that will change the country.”, he continued.
“Parliamentary investiture, in these circumstances, can only mean that the opposition will respect the principle of letting us work and execute the Government Program”.
Addressing the PS in particular, Montenegro left a challenge: “Despite its legitimacy in constituting itself as a supervisor of the Government’s actions and as a future alternative, which we understand with total democratic respect, it must be clear and authentic regarding the attitude it will take: to be a democratic opposition or to be a democratic blockade”.Parliament will discuss the Program of the XXIV Constitutional Government on April 11th and 12th. The document will be submitted to the Assembly of the Republic on the 10th.
Remember that the PCP has already announced its intention to present a motion to reject the Government Program. However, the socialists signaled that they will not facilitate initiatives that prevent the Executive from taking office.
“Solution to so many problems”
Luís Montenegro also wanted to guarantee the President of the Republic that “he will count on the Government to have an irremovable conduct of positive collaboration and institutional cooperation”, drawing attention to the internal and international contexts.
“After having had two legislative interruptions in two years, at a time when we have two outbreaks of war close to us, when we have the challenge of executing the most voluminous investment plan since joining the European Union, in which we face a very high level of poverty in practically half of our population and at a time when the State does not respond adequately to citizens in access to essential goods such as health, education or housing, It will be unforgivable that politics constitutes an aggravating factor and not a solution to so many problems”, he listed.Montenegro announced that the Government will call on all parties to present measures towards a common strategy to combat corruption.
In his speech, the prime minister promised to present, by June 2, an emergency health program and create conditions for a dialogue with all parliamentary forces for “an ambitious agenda” to combat corruption.
The governmentaccording to Luís Montenegro, will try to “implement a structural reform that strengthens and preserves the SNS as the basis of the system, but that takes advantage of the installed capacity in the social and private sectors, without useless ideological complexes and with a single concern: the citizen”.
“As we promised, we will prepare an emergency program that will be made public before June 2nd”, he assured.
About the file of corruption, Montenegro set itself the objective of obtaining “within two months” a “synthesis of proposals, measures and initiatives that can be agreed upon and consensualized, after duly testing their consistency, credibility and feasibility”.
“Nobody has a monopoly on the best solutions”, he wanted to emphasize.
“The Minister of Justice will communicate with the Government, taking the initiative, immediately after the parliamentary inauguration, to contact the various parties and begin this dialogue process. We expect openness and availability from everyone, in the name of a strong desire to seek consensus in a crucial area”.
Also according to the new head of Government, on the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April “this consensus effort will be a good way to celebrate democracy”.
w/ Lusa
