The XXIII Constitutional Government, the third led by António Costa, backed by an absolute majority of the PS in parliament, has already given leave to 13 ministers and state secretaries in about a year and three months.
The executive that resulted from the early parliamentary elections of January 30, 2022 and took office on March 30 had another “down” this Friday with the resignation of Marco Capitão Ferreira from the position of Secretary of State for National Defense, the at his own request , according to a note released by the Prime Minister’s office.
Hours after his resignation was announced, his constitution as a defendant in the Perfect Storm trial was announced, which led to judicial police searching the Defense Department this Friday.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, accepted the resignation of Marco Capitão Ferreira this Friday, without a replacement for the time being.
Before that, there have been 12 other government departures and subsequent replacements, at five different times, the first of which was May 2 last year, when Sara Guerreiro left the position of Secretary of State for Equality and Migration for health reasons. , is replaced by Isabel Rodrigues.
Between September 10 and 16, 2022, a more extensive change in the government cast took place, as Manuel Pizarro replaced Marta Temido, who had resigned as Minister of Health, which also led to the departure of his two secretaries of state, António Lacerda Sales and Maria de Fátima Fonseca , replaced by Ricardo Mestre and Margarida Tavares.
On the same occasion, Miguel Alves, Mayor of Caminha and also President of the Federation of Viana do Castelo of the PS, took office as Deputy Secretary of State to the Prime Minister – a position António Costa had not initially chosen. to have in the organic of this executive.
Two and a half months later, on December 2, another rebuild took place, following the resignation of Miguel Alves, after weeks of controversy over the decisions he made as mayor in Caminha. as a defendant in two cases.
As Deputy Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, António Mendonça Mendes entered, who moved from the position of Secretary of State for Tax Affairs.
Finance Minister Fernando Medina placed Nuno Félix in charge of Taxation, and Alexandra Reis in the Treasury, where was João Nuno Mendes, who became Secretary of State for Finance, a new position created in this reshuffle.
On the same date, December 2, two officials of the Ministry of Economy left the government: the Secretaries of State for the Economy, João Mendes, and for Tourism, Rita Marques, who were replaced respectively by Pedro Cilínio and by Nuno Fazenda.
The news that Alexandra Reis had received half a million euros from TAP when she left the company, where she was an administrator, and then became president of NAV, before becoming secretary of state for finance, triggered the government’s largest reshuffle to date, carried out on January 4 this year.
This case led to the resignation of first Alexandra Reis, then the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, who oversaw TAP and later assumed to have authorized that payment, and his Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Mendes.
On January 4, the President of the Republic João Galamba, until then Secretary of State for Environment and Energy, swore in as Minister of Infrastructure, and Marina Gonçalves, who was Secretary of State for Housing, as Minister of Housing. So there were two ministries instead of one.
The Minister of Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, now also has two secretaries of state instead of one: Ana Fontoura, with Energy and Climate, and Hugo Pires, with Environment.
Pedro Sousa Rodrigues was appointed Secretary of State for Finance, replacing Alexandra Reis, Francisco Frederico took over from Hugo Mendes as Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Maria Fernanda Rodrigues took over as Secretary of State for Housing.
At the same time, the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Rui Martinho, left the executive for health reasons and Carla Alves took his place.
The following day, January 5, it was reported that accounts had been seized from Carla Alves due to a lawsuit involving her husband, and the Secretary of State tendered her resignation.
Carla Alves was acquitted on January 9 by the President of the Republic and replaced by Gonçalo Rodrigues on February 15.
Source: DN
