Crisis

‘Prime minister Luís Montenegro got himself into trouble’

Damaging soundbites in the media over business connections of the Prime Minister (PM) Luís Montenegro ( and other members of the executive) helped along by revelations in the renowned weekly newspaper Expresso that the PM’s family business Spinumviva receives a 4500 euros monthly retainer from the Solverde casino and hotels/spa franchise.

The weekly Sábado even goes further by suggesting that Montenegro’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) is creating a ‘familygate’, a scenario seeing numerous husbands, wives, cousins, sisters- and brothers-in-law promoted to high positions in government.

Political authorities have emphasized to give up on Spinumviva completely but this did not happen. Rui Rocha, leader of the liberal party (IL), stated that Montenegro has to decide ‘whether he wants to remain PM or to have a business, as the two things cannot be combined.‘

But it was the right-wing extremist party leader Ventura who further complicated the matter by saying ‘resign or present a motion of confidence, unless the Prime Minister is comfortable with being the new (corrupt) José Sócrates of Portuguese politics ’

Last Friday Montenegro declared that he is turning over his business to his sons without winding it up or giving up clients, something that various political parties had asked for. On Saturday night, the PM gave an address to the nation at the start of the news bulletins on TV, informing the country that he would be presenting a motion of confidence to Parliament.

However, by admitting a motion of confidence, he effectively puts the future of his minority government on even thinner ice as the country’s largest opposition party – the Socialists (PS) – are not willing to support this government and therefore cannot support a motion of confidence.

If the government falls, the country will be on its way to new elections – in a year which already has two election campaigns ahead – municipal elections in the autumn and presidential elections in early 2026 – at a time when Europe is in turmoil as a result of the US betrayal over Ukraine.

The shadow of the possible scenario of early elections though hovered over the country for just a few hours, when later that evening it turned out that no opposition party met the Prime Minister’s demand to admit a motion of confidence. Luís Montenegro was quick to consider this to be sufficient to continue governance. Nevertheless, the probability of early elections remains high.




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