Lisbon, April 14, 2026 (Lusa) – The prime minister said on Tuesday that he leads a "government of consensus", claiming to have established commitments with the social and private sectors and signed 39 agreements with public administration unions to enhance labour conditions.
Luís Montenegro shared this position during his closing speech at the signing ceremony of an addendum to the cooperation commitment with the solidarity and social sector for 2025 and 2026. The session took place in São Bento, with Minister Maria Rosário Palma Ramalho opening the event.
He highlighted his government’s capacity for dialogue and compromise since taking office. "We value all sectors: the public sector, the private sector, and the social sector. We are, effectively, a government of consensus," he said.
He said that his team has reached consensus with the country's solidarity and social sectors through "strategic, concrete, and effective partnerships".
"We are a government of consensus within our own sector, having reached 39 agreements with public administration unions to improve working conditions.
We strive to be a government of consensus with the private sector, particularly with Portuguese workers on a global scale," he said.
The prime minister revisited the theme of consensus at the end of his speech to defend the ongoing reforms, noting that they target the medium- to long-term rather than just immediate management goals.
Regarding the agreement with the solidarity and social sectors, he considered it "crucial to leave no one behind," stressing the importance of providing aid when "the state sometimes fails to reach, or fails to reach with the same degree of efficiency."
"We have a state reform process and a transformative agenda underway, and we know the effects will not be immediate. They take time, and some will perhaps only manifest when we are no longer here," he said.
However, he said that "there is no problem with that", as it signals that his government remains "much more concerned with what it will leave behind".
"We respond to today's needs, but we also have the strategic vision not to be here just to manage the day-to-day.
We manage the daily routine and people’s concrete problems, but we aim to leave future generations a more balanced, fairer society with greater social and economic solidity," he said.
PMF/RYOL // ADB.
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