Montenegro returns to biweekly parliamentary debates more than a month later

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro will respond to deputies for the second time this Wednesday in the format of a two-week debate, almost a month and a half after his stay in the Assembly of the Republic.

The last two-week debate – Montenegro’s first as head of government – took place on May 15, when the parliamentary break for the European election campaign required a longer absence from this format of parliamentary discussions.

Then the debate opened with a speech by the Prime Minister, and today it will begin with questions from SDP deputies, followed by questions from other deputies in descending order of their representation (PS, Chega, I.L., B.E., PCP, Free, CDS-PP , PAN), with a total duration of 116 minutes.

This will be the first debate with Luís Montenegro in Parliament since the European elections, in which the PS narrowly won over the AD (PSD/CDU-PP/PPM coalition), with less than 40 thousand votes and one percentage point, and in which Chega fell from 18 % in legislative elections to 9.8%, but remained the third political force.

Luis Montenegro has already said that this result “changed nothing” for governance, and in recent weeks the PSD and PS have continued to exchange accusations of a lack of dialogue and criticism of those who enter into alliances with Chega.

The past week also saw the publication of wiretaps between former Prime Minister António Costa and then-Infrastructure Minister João Galamba over the dismissal of the previous TAP president, prompting prosecutors to open an investigation into the leak. in the process of influence.

The Prime Minister has not yet commented on the case, which has already led PS Secretary General Pedro Nuno Santos to say that the Attorney General of the Republic must give the country an explanation, and PAN to submit a formal request to hear Lucilia. Gago in parliament.

The fortnightly debate comes after the INE announced that the general government sector recorded a deficit of 0.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter, after Portugal ended 2023 with a surplus of 1.2%. exceeding official forecasts.

On Tuesday, the government approved in the Council of Ministers a document called “First phase of public administration reform”, according to which, from Monday, about 40% of the members of the executive branch will be concentrated in one building (called Campus XXI, where Caixa is headquartered). Geral de Depósitos), reduce the number of management positions by 25% – but with guarantees of “job preservation” – and define personal service duties in all government departments.

After two weeks of debate, Luis Montenegro will also answer MPs at the preparatory European Council debates on Thursday and Friday, a day after a preliminary agreement between European political families that Antonio Costa will become the next president of the European Council. with the support of the Portuguese government.

SMA // JPS

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