Former Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva presented a book on Friday that is not only a specification for the governments that follow, but also contains several messages for the current head of government. However, the former President of the Republic also guarantees that in this essay he has ignored the political events of the past eight months.
The motto for Cavaco’s messages to Costa was given by former Prime Minister José Manuel Durão Barroso, who in the first speech at the presentation of the book highlighted some passages that he described as “palatable”. There is no direct message, but Durão Barroso, citing Cavaco, refers to the recommendation that a prime minister, faced with the “recognized inability” of a minister to perform his duties, should not insist on putting him in government to hold. In addition to this suggestion, Durão Barroso emphasized the importance of the Prime Minister’s participation in meetings of the State Council, the advisory body to the President of the Republic, of which António Costa is a member. Recently, António Costa was accused of not intervening in the last meeting of the State Council, after which any conflict with the President of the Republic was removed.
In response, Cavaco emphasized that the final part of the book was completed in January this year. He therefore rejected any message that could be related to the political events of the past eight months.
What the policy should be
Not a series of messages, Cavaco classifies the book The Prime Minister and the Art of Governar as a “normative essay” that did not yet exist in political science in Portugal, an area he says he does not dominate. Cavaco Silva started from the idea of a “normative analysis” which, according to what he explained, involves understanding how the topic addressed should be, in this case referring to governance. In contrast, an analysis would be made of the phenomenon as it really is. The former head of state explained that writing this book reminded him of his days as an academic researcher, hence this approach.
The ‘art of governing’
To achieve the goal of ensuring that the government will govern well, the former President of the Republic emphasizes the “successful completion of a real ministerial reform” as the most difficult task “in terms of people for a Prime Minister”. Once again, the current Prime Minister has been criticized for not sending a message to Costa, for not reforming the government, especially after failing to follow the instructions of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in May. to dismiss the Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba, following the controversy surrounding the recovery of a former advisor’s computer containing classified information.
“Replacing three, four or five ministers in one fell swoop requires coolness, secrecy, meticulous preparation and execution,” Cavaco stressed, adding that “surprising the media and the political country is ideal.” In this sense, he believed that the two “real reforms” he implemented as head of government in 1990 and 1993 met this goal.
Cavaco spoke to a packed audience at Grémio Literário in Lisbon, with personalities from the right, from PSD president Luís Montenegro, in the front row, to former governors Manuela Ferreira Leite and Eduardo Catroga. Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas, who was present, also received Cavaco Silva’s thanks, before referring it to the current leader of the PSD.
Durão Barroso, at the presentation of the book, criticized a ‘certain left for explaining Cavaco’s civilian death. ‘Please continue to bother those who get nervous even before they hear it,’ he asked.
Source: DN
