Lisbon, 17 June 2025 (Lusa) - The programme of the 25th Portuguese Constitutional Government will be presented and debated in parliament on Tuesday at 10 a.m., starting with an unlimited time speech by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.
The document was approved by the Cabinet on Thursday and delivered to Parliament on Saturday, including measures already included in the Democratic Alliance coalition's electoral programme, such as a reduction in personal income tax (IRS) and corporate income tax (IRC) and an increase in salaries and pensions, but also new commitments.
Among the main new features, the reform of the State stands out, which has been given an autonomous ministry in the PSD/CDS-PP coalition Government - with the Government ruling out redundancies or salary cuts for civil servants - the intention to change labour legislation, including the law on strikes, to review the Basic Health Law and to bring forward the commitment to invest 2% of GDP in defence this year.
Greater control of immigration is another of the main lines of the programme of the second executive headed by Luís Montenegro, which includes a new chapter in relation to the document presented before the campaign: a Transformative Agenda, which sets out ten priority areas for government action.
These priorities include income policy, state reform, wealth creation, ‘regulated immigration’, quality public services complemented by private services, local security, faster justice, responses to the housing crisis, investment in new infrastructure, implementation of the ‘Água que Une’ (Water that Unites) project and the plan to strategically strengthen investment in defence.
When presenting the programme, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Carlos Abreu Amorim, stated that, beyond the desire for stability, the document is a four-year programme that aims to ‘transform the country’, committing to dialogue ‘with all parties’.
After the Prime Minister's initial presentation, there will be an hour and a half for the first questions and answers to the ten political forces sitting in the chamber of the 17th legislature, starting with right wing Chega - which has become the second largest parliamentary party - followed by the Social Democrats (PSD), the Socialists (PS), the Liberals (IL), the left wing Livre, the Communist Party (PCP), the Christian Democrats (CDS-PP) and the sole MPs from the Left Bloc (BE), the People-Animals-Nature Party (PAN) and the Together with the People Party (JPP), the only newcomer.
This will be followed by around four and a half hours of debate on the document, with several ministers expected to speak during the afternoon.
On Monday, the Government released a list of 80 opposition measures that it said it had included in the PSD/CDS-PP executive programme: 27 from Chega, 25 from PS, 16 from IL, six from Livre, two from PCP and PAN and one each from BE and JPP.
In addition to the Government's programme, the opposition is expected to bring to the debate the various recent attacks associated with far-right groups, after the PCP and BE had already asked the executive to rectify the absence of these threats in the final version of the 2024 National Internal Security Report (RASI).
Wednesday morning has been reserved for the closing period, with around two hours of speeches by the parties (this time in ascending order) and the Government, followed by the vote on the PCP's motion to reject the document, which the PS and Chega have already said they will block.
Only after the Government's programme has been considered and not rejected will the 25th Constitutional Government, which took office on 5 June, take up its full functions.
A new attempt to elect the names proposed by Chega for vice-speaker and vice-secretary of parliament is also scheduled for today, after Diogo Pacheco de Amorim and Filipe Melo failed to obtain the necessary absolute majority by a few votes on the first day of the legislative session on 3 June.
SMA/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
