New Portuguese government took office today

LISBON – The Prime Minister defended today that not rejecting the Government’s program in parliament “means allowing its execution until the end of the mandate” or until there is a motion of censure, challenging the PS to say whether it will be opposition or a democratic blockade.

“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”, defended Luís Montenegro, in his inauguration speech, at Palácio da Ajuda, in Lisbon.

In his intervention, the Prime Minister stated that “the Government is here to govern the four and a half years of the legislature” and “it is not here on shift” nor 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 immediately begin to program and implement structural reforms that change the country”, he considered.

Therefore, he defended: “Parliamentary investiture, in these circumstances, can only mean that the oppositions will respect the principle of letting us work and execute the Government Program”.

“This is not about adhesion to this program, but before knowing if there is a block to its execution (…) Not rejecting the Government Program certainly does not mean a blank check, but it also cannot mean a check without coverage “, he said.

Luís Montenegro addressed, in particular, the PS, which governed 22 of the last 28 years.

“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 as to the attitude it will take: to be a democratic opposition or to be a democratic blockade”, he considered.

The Prime Minister assured that this will be said during the discussion of the Government Program in the Assembly of the Republic, scheduled for the 11th and 12th of April.

“But for honesty of principles and institutional loyalty, it must also be said in this solemn act, because it encompasses the responsibility that each one is willing to assume”, he stated.

The Constitution determines that a Government only enters into full functions after its program has been assessed by parliament, if it is not rejected.

The Assembly of the Republic will debate the program of the XXIV Constitutional Government on the 11th and 12th of April, a document that will be delivered on the 10th, the leaders’ conference decided last week.

The PCP announced its intention to present a motion to reject the Government’s program, which is unlikely to be approved, as the PS has indicated that it will not enable this or any other initiative to prevent the executive from taking office.

Montenegro assured the President of the Republic that “the Government will count on an irremovable conduct of positive collaboration and institutional cooperation” and argued that the policy cannot worsen the problems that already exist in the national and international context.

“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 for the policy to be constituted as an aggravating factor and not as a solution to so many problems”, he considered.

Montenegro promised “humility, patriotic spirit and capacity for dialogue” from the Government and said that this is also what it expects from the opposition, citing the poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen.

“Our democracy, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this April, is alive. Let us honor the ‘dawn’ that Sofia expected and let us know how to build the ‘whole and clean day’ that she envisioned, so that we can ‘freely inhabit the substance of time’”, he said, appealing to “everyone’s maturity and degree of commitment” to the will of the Portuguese “political change”.