Lisbon: Portugal’s centre-right Prime Minister Luis Montenegro inaugurated his cabinet on Thursday after his centre-right coalition managed to destroy parliament.
The 51-year-old lawyer sought to form a government last week after the March 10 election, which led to a suspended parliament.
Despite being the third largest party after the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro and the Socialists, the left-right parties refused to sign an agreement with them.
But it will not have a stable working population.
Late Thursday, Montenegro sent a list of 17 ministers to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa before leaving the presidential palace.
The list includes politicians with experience in key positions such as the ministries of finance, economy and foreign affairs, according to a statement issued by the president’s office.
Deputy Paulo Rangel will serve as foreign minister, while Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, former parliamentary leader of the Montenegro Party, will take over the finance portfolio.
Pedro Reis, who heads the government’s trade and investment agency, was appointed to the Ministry of Economy.
Montenegro’s minority government, which includes seven women, will take power next Tuesday, ending eight years of socialist rule.
The Democratic Union, a coalition formed by the center-right Social Democratic Party of Montenegro (PSD), which includes two small conservative parties, won 80 seats in the 230-member parliament with 28.8 percent of the vote.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s Socialist Party won 78 seats with 28% of the vote. The right-wing Chaga – Portuguese for “enough” – has won 50 MPs, up from 12 in the previous parliament.
A divided parliament failed to elect a president for days.
Ultimately, the PSD and the Socialists agreed to share the post, with the PSD’s Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco serving until September 2026 before handing it over to the Socialists.
The new government faces calm seas on the financial and economic front.
It inherited a budget surplus of 1.2 percent of GDP, only the second annual surplus since Portugal returned to democratic government in 1974.
Outgoing Prime Minister Costa met his successor on Wednesday and said he was stepping down with a sense of a “debt fulfilled” even though he wanted him to go further on a number of issues, including health.
“The new government will have many problems to solve,” he said.
