On Tuesday, the President of the Republic promised “solidarity and support for cooperation” to the new government led by Luis Montenegro, who believed that “sustained dialogue” was necessary to increase his support base.
In his speech at the inauguration ceremony of the XXIV Constitutional Government at the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared that this executive minority, formed by the PSD and CDS-PP, “counts on the solidary and joint support of the President of the Republic – – who, in fact, will never I didn’t bargain about this with my predecessor.”
“But she does not have the support of a majority in the Assembly of the Republic, and she has to build it by being more likely to converge on regime issues: foreign, defense, European, financial policy with international implications or similar electoral commitments,” he said.
According to the head of state, “for less likely rapprochements in other areas, the dialogue must be much more thorough and much more demanding,” and “for decisions such as structural reforms or state budgets, this requirement is even more extensive.”
“With all this, he is counting on popular support, which brought him victory, but for which he will have to win over many more Portuguese to his side, either because they are close in ideas, or because they are convinced that the work he is doing , deserves such widespread support,” added Marcelo Rebelo de Souza.
Earlier, the President of the Republic referred to the international situation, saying that “in 2024 it is worse than in 2023 and could get worse, depending on the impact of the elections in North America on the wars,” which could have consequences “on economies, on growth, inflation and interest rates.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that this determines the government’s mandate, “because what is most important depends on others”, but stressed that much depends on Portugal and asked not to create problems where there are none.
“We can have common sense and do things in Europe and the world that solve problems rather than make them worse, and maintain the coherence, political and financial authority that so much work has given us to create and recreate over the years of democracy,” he said . . .
“Where we do not have problems, we should not create them, as in the case of consensus on more growth, investment and exports, in balancing public accounts, in paying attention to external debt, public and private, in taking advantage of national security and certainty in the face of insecurity and international uncertainty,” he continued.
The government must intervene in the face of “cost problems or economic and social dysfunction” but “with care not to touch the core of what is not the problem,” he stressed.
At the beginning of his speech, which lasted about ten minutes, the head of state thanked the previous Prime Minister António Costa and members of the outgoing government for “their service to Portugal” and wished the new rulers “all the best.”
He then reported on the results of the early legislative elections on March 10, in which the united PSD and SDS-NP received the largest number of votes and elected 80 deputies out of 230, in a parliament in which the PS has 78 seats, the same number as both the PSD and Chega 50, IL 8, BE 5, PCP 4, Livre also 4 and PAN 1.
According to the President of the Republic, the Portuguese “voted for faith in democracy, lifting an abstinence that seemed insurmountable, wanting to declare on the 50th anniversary of April 25 that voting is always worth it, freedom is worth it. It’s worth it, democracy is worth it.”
In their view, the Portuguese wanted to “change government hemispheres” but preferred to “give victory to the moderate sector rather than the radical sector of the other hemisphere,” and by increasing participation they signaled that they expected “increased participation.” getting closer to people and to your problems.”
Since coming to power in March 2016, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has so far lived with only one prime minister, António Costa.
In his speech, he mentioned that Luis Montenegro would succeed a prime minister who “led the longest government of this century and the second in a democracy – always with an international sensitivity, especially a European one, which was and is in the national interest.”
“The election victory was difficult, perhaps the narrowest in the parliamentary elections, but I think that may be why it was the most rewarding,” he noted.