Portugal's new PM vows stable government but faces tough task

AFP | Lisbon      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Portugal's new Prime Minister Luis Montenegro vowed "stable" leadership after his appointment Thursday but faces a tough job ruling in a minority government with opposition from a rising far right.

The 51-year-old lawyer and veteran parliamentarian was named premier after midnight early Thursday after final results came through from the March 10 polls.

Despite falling far short of a majority in parliament, he has ruled out teaming up with the anti-immigration Chega party in government.

"There is no internal or external reason to doubt our ability to have a stable government," he said on Thursday after meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels.

His government "has the confidence of the voters," he said.

"It also has what is required of all political players, including those now in opposition, that is a sense of responsibility," Montenegro added.

"There is no reason to call into question the country's stability".

- Growing far right -

Montenegro's Democratic Alliance (AD) had campaigned on promises to boost economic growth by cutting taxes, and to improve unreliable public health services and education, which have been hit by strikes by teachers and school workers over pay.

Montenegro is scheduled to present his new government next Thursday and it will take office on April 2, he told reporters after a late-night meeting with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Montenegro's party beat the Socialist Party (PS) of outgoing premier Antonio Costa in the elections by a narrow margin.

In Wednesday's final count, AD won 28.8 percent of the vote and 80 seats, far short of a majority in the 230-seat parliament.

Even with the backing of the tiny business-friendly Liberal Initiative (IL) party, the AD would still need the support of Chega to reach a majority of 116 seats in the assembly.

The election was called after Costa, 62, unexpectedly resigned in November following an influence-peddling investigation that involved a search of his official residence and the arrest of his chief of staff.

The PS came second in the elections, with 28 percent of the vote and 78 seats in parliament.

Chega posted the biggest gains, winning 50 seats after taking just 12 in the last election in 2022, cementing its position in Portugal's political landscape.

But Montenegro has ruled out forming a coalition with Chega, saying he intends to form a minority government.

Chega leader Andre Ventura this week warned of political instability if the AD continued to reject a coalition, threatening to oppose it if Montenegro refused to open negotiations.

- Budget negotiations -

The autumn deadline for agreeing the state budget for 2025 will be Montenegro's first major test.

The new Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos said Tuesday that he was ready to vote on a budget amendment to increase the pay of teachers, police officers, nurses and court clerks, but that a favourable vote by the Socialist Party for the budget overall was "practically impossible".

Montenegro's new government will be "condemned to negotiation, because that is the fate of minority governments", political scientist Antonio Costa Pinto, of the University of Lisbon's Institute of Social Sciences, told AFP.

But it is not necessarily doomed to be an unstable government since "none of the players have an interest in triggering a crisis", he added.

In the event of political deadlock, President Rebelo de Sousa would mediate the negotiations.

Outgoing prime minister Costa said there would be "no change" to Portugal's foreign policy.

"Even Chega, unlike the far-right parties in other European countries, has never campaigned against the European Union or exploited any Eurosceptic attitude," Costa said at his last European Council meeting in Brussels.