António Costa went to get his new Deputy Secretary of State (António Mendonça Mendes, until now Secretary of State for Tax Affairs) from Finance and by getting the strongman from Finance, he forced Fernando Medina to transform Terreiro do Paço’s team.
As of now, the runner-up is Finance Minister João Nuno Mendes, who moves from Secretary of State of Finance to Secretary of State of Finance (replacing Medina in his absence). Nuno Félix becomes the new Secretary of State for Tax Affairs and Alexandra Reis was elected to the Treasury, passing through the management of TAP and now President of NAV Portugal. Sofia Batalha remains Secretary of State for the Budget. In other words, Medina’s finances return to Leon’s formula, from three to four secretaries of state.
Costa’s choice as his new right-hand man – following the departure of Miguel Alves, accused of subterfuge in the context of Operation Teia – is not without significance. Mendonça Mendes is not only a man who knows the prime minister well and comes from the socialist apparatus, he is also someone who is very knowledgeable about the country’s accounts. In the Fiscal Affairs portfolio since the days when Mário Centeno (current Governor of Banco de Portugal) headed Finance, the Prime Minister’s new Deputy Secretary of State will be a great help to Costa, at a time when the economic situation – rising interest rates, high inflation, almost frozen growth, declining consumption – will tighten the abs and the added difficulties of a full stop in Portugal as recession hits Europe may force the design of new support measures, without endangering public finances.
Cleanliness in the economy
The most striking fact of this Tuesday’s reshuffle of the mini-government, however, was the cleaning carried out by the Minister of Economic Affairs in his team of state secretaries. Two of them were inherited from the previous minister, Pedro Siza Vieira: João Neves, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, and Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism.
For weeks now, the gap between the minister and his two secretaries of state has been clear. It became public and notorious when Costa Silva defended a “transverse” reduction of the IRC (“an extremely important signal for the entire industry”). Rita Marques responded to the idea by reminding the minister that the prime minister is in charge. “These matters are discussed collectively, in their own headquarters, in the Council of Ministers. The prime minister must have the last word, in fact, he has the first, the last, always.” João Neves continued: “It is a mistake to say that we are going to take action on IRC to solve a problem at very short notice.”
The two refurbished are ready this Tuesday. The problem became so audible that it caused bewilderment in the Socialist Bank itself. And that surprise was expressed by Deputy Alexandra Leitão (former Minister of Modernization of the State and Public Administration) in the TVI program Principle of Uncertainty in which she debates political current affairs with António Lobo Xavier and José Pacheco Pereira every week. . “Two of the three state secretaries of economic affairs came forward to say the opposite of what the minister said, this confuses me very much.” Assuming “bewilderment”, he said secretaries disowning the minister “is not something that is well tolerated”. Time proved him right: Costa Silva won the arm wrestling match.
The new secretaries of state will be Pedro Cilínio (Economy) and Nuno Cardona Fazenda de Almeida (Tourism). The first, an engineer with a master’s degree in business management, has been with IAPMEI since 1998. The second elected PS deputy in the last two parliamentary elections (by the Castelo Branco circle) has a degree in tourism from the University of Algarve, has worked at Turismo de Portugal and is also a university professor. José Maria Costa, Secretary of State for the Sea, will remain in office.
“Chaos” and “erosion,” says the PSD
A renovation announced in the mouth also caused astonishment, but that not everything was ready at once remained unexplained. First, the Presidency of the Republic – which will inaugurate the new Secretaries of State at noon on Friday – announced the Prime Minister’s new foreign minister and the changes in the economy. Finance came an hour later.
And none of this went through the opposition. Hugo Soares, general secretary of the PSD, explains the reshuffles that have already taken place in the current executive branch, speaking of “eight departures in eight months of government chaos and erosion”, with “great loss of administrative authority” by the prime minister. “We have a government in chaos in Portugal, which is deteriorating and that is not good for the country. In difficult times like the one we are going through, we needed a more stable government,” he said. “Portugal needs a strong and stable government, and it doesn’t have one.”
André Ventura, deputy and leader of Chega, also believes that this mini-remodeling reveals something “obvious”, a government “in an accelerated process of disintegration”. Speaking of changes in the economy, he speculated: “Costa Silva probably put António Costa against the wall. The IRC controversy made it clear that the secretaries of state who spoke out against the minister actually gave more weight to the prime minister. That is because Costa Silva said, “Either they go or I go.”
On the other hand, he investigated the fact that the new secretary of state to the prime minister, Mendonça Mendes, is the brother of the deputy minister and parliamentary affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes. “I have the greatest respect for António Mendonça Mendes, I even had several debates with him in parliament, where his enormous technical and political capacity was always recognized, and his knowledge, especially in the field of taxation. But I do not think and Chega does not think it is positive that a brother of a minister coordinates the government,” said Ventura. In his view, this choice of “strongman for prime minister” contradicts the government’s intention to “combat nepotism and webs of complicity” and is “additional fuel to the fire” of affairs in the executive branch with a absolute majority of the PS.
Another party that reacted was the PAN, with Inês Sousa Real expressing concern about the renovation and asking for “transparency” about the “reasons for the resignation” of the secretaries of state for the economy and tourism. a year of the new government, more so in an absolute majority, we saw the resulting redundancies,” said the deputy.
with JP
Source: DN
