The government’s first 100 days with many announcements, a decision on a new airport and a deal with teachers

The government’s first 100 days in office have seen a flurry of announcements, a decision on the airport’s location and an agreement with some teachers’ unions, as well as many changes in senior positions.

The Executive Director of PSD/CDS-PP, headed by Luis Montenegro, ends his work on Wednesday, July 10, one hundred days after taking office at the Palacio de Ajuda on April 2, and assumes his full functions on the 12th of the same month.

Since then, several “packages” and “agendas” have been announced – in areas ranging from housing to corruption, immigration, health, public administration and the economy – but not all of them have yet been translated into legislative initiatives, prompting criticism from the opposition about the lack of implementation and timing.

The first decision of the XXIV Constitutional Government was, admittedly, symbolic: the change of the official logo used in the communication of the executive power, replacing elements such as the armillary sphere with a shield, angles and castles, which had been eliminated in the previous change.

In the following weeks, the government approved decrees-laws aimed at the recipients of the Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly, who now have 100% reimbursement of their medicines, their benefit increased by 50 euros per month, and the income of their children was removed as an exclusion factor – and on May 14, he announced the first decision, which he said was formulated with the main opposition party PS: to build the future Lisbon International Airport in Alcochete, which will be named after the poet Luís de Camões.

Since then, several packages of measures have been presented and approved by the government in the Council of Ministers, such as “You have a future in Portugal”, at the first thematic and decentralized Council of Ministers (in Braga) dedicated to youth, “Construir Portugal” (on housing), the “Emergency and Health Transformation Plan”, the “Government Action Plan on Migration”, the “Plan +Aulas +Sucesso” (so that next year students are not left out of school for long periods), the “Anti-Corruption Program”, the first stage of the public administration reform and a set of 60 measures “to speed up” the economy, including a promised 4-point reduction in the IRC across the entire legislature.

For example, out of the 20 anti-corruption measures presented, not a single decree or bill has yet led to discussion, which should go through a possible parliamentary committee proposed by the SDP and SDS-PP.

In these little more than three months, the government has tried to pass laws mainly in the areas of taxation, housing and youth, and after its proposal to reduce the IRS was amended by parliament (the new text was eventually approved by parliament, with the SDP and SDS-PP voting against), the executive has opted to grant legislative authorisations in cases where it cannot decide by decree.

Of the eight bills that the government had submitted to the Assembly of the Republic by Friday, three were in the form of authorization to allow the executive to pass laws on the exemption of IMT and IMI for young people, the abolition of the emergency contribution to local housing (these two have already been approved) and the change of the young IRS to a maximum rate of 15%.

On May 21, the government reached an agreement with seven teachers’ unions to restore suspended seniority, and in early June with the main justice union. The talks with the security forces may be in jeopardy after the prime minister said he was unable to increase the price of the agreement already offered (300 euros per month).

These first hundred days have also seen changes in some of the highest positions in the public administration: the resignation of the executive director of the National Health Service, Fernando Araújo (replaced by Lieutenant Colonel António Gandra d’Almeida) and the president of the Social Security Institute, Ana Vásquez, or the dismissal of the Ombudsman of Santa Casa da Misericórdia, Ana Jorge, the national director of the PSP, José Barros Correia, or the administration of the Agency for Administrative Modernization.

The prime minister rejected the claim that it was a “purge based on party criteria” and responded to opposition criticism with “numerous dismissals” of the previous Socialist executive.

During these hundred days of the XXIV Constitutional Government, the Secretary of State for Mobility, Cristina Diaz, has been attacked by the opposition for having received compensation for leaving the CP and, shortly thereafter, joining the regulatory body.