The new prime minister today committed to presenting, by June 2, an emergency health program and announcing a dialogue with all parties with parliamentary seats for “an ambitious agenda” to combat corruption.
In his inauguration speech, Luís Montenegro promised, in the area of health, that the Government will “implement a structural reform that strengthens and preserves the SNS as the basis of the system, but that takes advantage of the installed capacity in the social and private sectors, without useless ideological complexes and with a single concern: the citizen”
“As we promised, we will prepare an Emergency Program that will be made public before June 02nd,” he said.
In the area of corruption, he announced that he will propose to all parties with parliamentary seats the opening of a dialogue with a view to establishing an ambitious, effective and consensual agenda to combat corruption.
“The objective is to have a synthesis of proposals, measures and initiatives within two months that it is possible to agree and reach consensus on, after duly testing their consistency, credibility and feasibility”, he said, arguing that “no one has a monopoly on the best solutions ”.
From then on, he added, the executive will focus on approving the respective laws, “either on a proposal from the Government or on the initiative of parliament”.
“The Minister of Justice will communicate with the Government, taking the initiative, immediately after the parliamentary inauguration, to contact the various parties and begin this dialogue process. We expect openness and availability from everyone, in the name of a strong desire to seek consensus in a crucial area”, he said
The Prime Minister highlighted that, in the fifty years of the 25th of April, “this consensus effort will be a good way to celebrate democracy”.
Montenegro also warned that Portugal did not become rich “just because it has a budget surplus”, and even considered that this idea “is dangerous, it is wrong and it is even irresponsible”.
In his inauguration speech, at Palácio da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Luís Montenegro reiterated the commitments to tax relief and projection of more economic growth that he had presented in the electoral campaign.
“We will fulfill our promises of tax relief, the enhancement of salaries and pensions, the restructuring of public services and the modernization of the State. But we will do so not in the shadow of the illusion of a surplus, but rather with the anchor of a more productive and competitive economy and a renewed and efficient State,” he said.
“We are aware that we did not become a rich country just because we had a budget surplus”, he added.
For the new prime minister, this vision poses three main problems.
“Firstly, this idea can be considered an offense to millions of Portuguese people who live in extreme difficulties because they receive low salaries or pensions, because they are drowning in taxes, because they are unable to access decent housing, healthcare or even quality education,” he said.
Secondly, he argued, “the theory of “full coffers” leads to excessive and uncontrolled claims for unsustainable expenses”.
“Thirdly, the idea that we are living in abundance induces the country to think that there is no need to structurally change our economy and the State, because after all it seems that everything is fine. This idea is dangerous, it’s wrong and it’s even irresponsible,” she said.
The Prime Minister also defended 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 monitor of the Government’s actions and as a future Alternative, which we understand with total democratic respect, it must be clear and authentic regarding 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.
In the Ambassadors' Room of the Ajuda National Palace, 23 days after the early legislative elections of March 10, the head of state swore in the prime minister and then the 17 ministers of the minority executive formed by PSD and CDS-PP.
The XXIV Constitutional Government will be completed with the inauguration of the Secretaries of State, scheduled for Friday.
In today's ceremony, which began at exactly 18pm, the members of the new executive were called one by one, in hierarchical order, to take the oath and sign the instrument of investiture, a process that lasted around 00 minutes.
The new president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, the outgoing Prime Minister, António Costa, and outgoing ministers from the previous Government, and the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago, attended this inauguration ceremony.
Comments