Marcelo says that Montenegro “takes a lot of work” and has “rural behaviors” | President

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa considers that Prime Minister Luís Montenegro “takes a lot of work”, is very “unpredictable” and comes from a “deep country”. The statements were made at a dinner this Tuesday, with foreign journalists. The story is revealed by the newspaper Correio Braziliense, which tells the conversation with the President of the Republic. Previously, the same newspaper had revealed that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa guaranteed that he had cut ties with his son, as a result of the twins’ case. In addition to the considerations he made about the current Prime Minister, the President of the Republic also made comments about António Costa, who “because he was Eastern, he was slow”.

According to the Brazilian newspaper, the President of the Republic considers that Luís Montenegro − born in the city of Espinho −​ “comes from a deep country, urban-rural, with rural behaviors.” For Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the current prime minister “is very curious, difficult to understand, precisely because of this.” “Every day, I have surprises, because he is imaginative and has a logic of reasoning as being from a traditional country”, he points out. “It IS stimulating, but for me, it’s a lot of work,” he continued.

“António Costa was slow, because he was oriental [nascido em Portugal, António Costa tem ascendência goesa]. Montenegro is not oriental, but it is slow, it has the time of a rural country, although urbanized. It reminds me of the old PSD, which was it. The PS was Lisbon, greater Lisbon, the metropolitan areas, and the PSD was the rest of the country, especially the North and the central North”, he compared.

On the other hand, Marcelo says that Montenegro “is completely independent, non-influenceable and improviser“. Recalling the episode of the delay in the final delivery of the list of secretaries of State, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa says that Montenegro is “very, very, very secretive” and that this led him to form the Government “in an unthinkable way”. No fuss , the President of the Republic says that the Prime Minister “only started inviting ministers in the morning of the day” in which he was supposed to appear at the Belém Palace with the composition of the Government. “A risk“, summarized Marcelo.

“And it was so secretive, that none of them knew about the other. They only met on the day of the inauguration”, he said, quoted in Portuguese written in Brazil. It was this delay that also delayed the selection of Secretaries of State and divided the Government’s inauguration into two phases: first the ministers took office and only days later the Secretaries of State took up their duties.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa states that Montenegro considers that “it is a mistake to speak, he prefers silence” and that, therefore, “he will become a politician of silence”. For the President of the Republic, this also creates “the surprise effect”. “When they expect him to do something, he does something different, either in the team or in the idea,” he says.

Therefore, for the head of state, the prime minister, although “a great speaker”, is “an old-fashioned politician”. And he insists on drawing comparisons in relation to the previous head of Government. “He is not a politician in the style of former Prime Minister António Costa and much less in the style of (members of) populist parties. Let’s see if he will be able to control the weather, make it compatible with the Government”, he stated.

One of the surprise effects highlighted was the choice of Sebastião Bugalho to head the list of the Democratic Alliance (PSD/CDS/PPM) for the European elections on June 9th. Although behind the scenes the most talked about name was the mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, it was Sebastião Bugalho who, despite having no experience in political positions, was chosen as the head of the PSD list. “It was totally an improvisation, a secret until the end,” he said.