Lisbon, March 25, 2026 (Lusa) – The president of Portugal, António José Seguro, has convened his first Council of State for 17 April, focusing on "security and defence," as had been announced during his campaign.
"The President of the Republic has convened the Council of State for the 17th of April, at 3:00 p.m, at Belém Palace, with the theme 'security and defence'," can be read on the Presidency's website.
This Council of State will follow Seguro's first "Open Presidency", scheduled for 6 to 10 April.
The Council of State is one of the external bodies for which the parliament's election of members has been postponed several times. A new date is expected to be set by the conference of parliamentary leaders this morning.
Parliament is responsible for nominating five names for the Council of State, an advisory body to the president that has not yet met since the new head of state took office on 9 March. The five personalities to be appointed by the president himself are yet to be announced.
During a campaign rally in Coimbra on 9 January, Seguro considered it "unbelievable" that members of the Council of State and judges of the constitutional court had not yet been elected by parliament, questioning what "lies behind" the postponement until after the presidential elections.
"It is unbelievable that there were elections in May of last year and, after all these months, parliament has still not managed to elect the five representatives to the Council of State. The same applies to the constitutional court," he said at the time.
In the debate for the second round of the presidential elections, Seguro stated that, if elected, the first Council of State he would convene would be to "debate the issue of security and defence," and expressed a desire to discuss the topic with military chiefs and hear from political parties to "maintain national consensus."
The socialist politician considered that "Europe and Portugal must strengthen their strategic autonomy" in this area to have "better, more efficient means" of protection, and that anti-corruption plans should guide the investments to be made.
At a rally on 13 January in Barreiro, the former Socialist Party (PS) leader deemed security fundamental to living in freedom, rejecting the notion that the topic belongs "to another political field."
"Is it not possible to guarantee people more security, regardless of the time of day, so that they can walk, work, circulate, and stroll in total freedom and total security? Security is a fundamental issue for me. Many people consider that discussing security issues belongs to another political field. I do not think that way," he said then.
António José Seguro said that security is "the first condition" for being free and "living in freedom."
In addition to the five councillors appointed by the parliament and the five councillors appointed by the head of state, the council of state includes, by right of office: the president of the parliament, the prime minister, the president of the constitutional court, the ombudsperson – a position currently vacant – the presidents of the regional governments, and former presidents of Portugal.
JF/RYOL // ADB.
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