The new Passos Coelho government was announced today with the prospect of new ministers being in post for a matter of days before a vote of ‘no confidence’ brings down the coalition.
Maria Luís Albuquerque and Rui Machete have clung on to their briefs as ministers of state (Finance and Foreign Affairs) and Paulo Portas remains as deputy prime minister having had his magnanimous offer to vacat his post in favour of socialist leader António Costa rejected out off hand.
PM Passos Coelho, against a supposed backdrop of tight government spending and cuts to the state payroll, has dreamed up two new ministries with the addition of Administrative Modernisation, to be headed by Rui Medeiros; and the Ministry of Culture, Equality and Citizenship to be led by Teresa da Silva Morais.
Both areas of work were done before at Secretary of State level.
Three Secretaries of State get booted upstairs. Fernando Leal da Costa replaces Paulo Macedo as Minister of Health. Teresa Morais keeps Equality and Citizenship, but adds Culture and becomes a minister.
Luís Morais Leitão moves from helping out Paulo Portas to becoming the new Minister for the Economy, replacing the businessman Pires de Lima.
Leitão at least has financial experience having worked at BPI Asset Management, BPI Vida, BPI Pensões and Allianz Portugal as well as various positions in the defence industry.
Margarida Mano takes over Education to the relief of teachers and Assunção Cristas continues in Agriculture and Anabela Rodrigues from Internal Affairs and Paula Teixeira da Cruz from Justice thankfully are moving on after disastrous periods of management.
There are five new faces in the government: Fernando Negrão (Minister of Justice); Carlos da Costa Neves (Minister of Parliamentary Affairs); Rui Medeiros (Minister for Administrative Modernisation); Margarida Mano (Minister of Education and Science) and João Calvão da Silva (the new Home Secretary).
Passos Coelho has his finger on the pulse as three of those leaving have caused little but embarrassment and problems for his administration, namely: Anabela Rodrigues,(Home Affairs) Paula Teixeira da Cruz (Justice) and Paulo Macedo (Education).
The old lags that are staying on, in addition to Passos Coelho and Paulo Portas, are Maria Luís Albuquerque (Finance), Rui Machete (Foreign Affairs), José Pedro Aguiar-Branco (Defence),Luís Marques Guedes (Presidency and Regional Development), Jorge Moreira da Silva (Environment, Planning and Energy), Assunção Cristas (Agriculture and Sea) and finally, Pedro Mota Soares (Solidarity, Employment and Social Security).
All of this has made certain union leaders chuckle, with the CGTP confident that Passos Coleho and Paulo Portas will be brought down by the looking ‘no confidence’ vote.
Union boss Arménio Carlos said that these new ministerial jobs could be looked at as “very short term contracts.”
Carlos is confident that the coalition executive will be brought down in Parliament in two weeks when the government programme is presented for debate, giving the socialists and left bloc coalition a change to vote it down.
João Vieira Lopes from the Confederation of Trade and Services of Portugal refused to get drawn into a political commentary but did note that "the core of the government is the same as the previous government", and that "it remains curious that there is a Ministry for Public Services Reform, as over the years it had done nothing to reform public services.”
These appointments are long overdue but Passos Coelho has been loathed to sack poorly performing ministers with the inevitable result that ministries have been performing badly, led by Education and Justice.
Now that the PM has appointed his cast of old and new characters, the clock is ticking and the time is soon that he must present his economic programme which will be voted down amid acrimony, turmoil and blame.
The President of the Republic, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, today gave his approval to the draft constitution of Portugal's twentieth Constitutional Government which had been presented by the nominated Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, according to a communication from the Presidency.
Here they all are:
Primeiro-ministro: Pedro Passos Coelho
Vice-Primeiro-Ministro: Paulo Portas
Ministra de Estado e das Finanças: Maria Luís Albuquerque
Ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiro: Rui Machete
Ministro da Defesa Nacional: José Pedro Aguiar-Branco
Ministro da Presidência e do Desenvolvimento Regional: Luís Marques Guedes
Ministro da Administração Interna: João Calvão da Silva
Ministro da Justiça: Fernando Negrão
Ministro do Ambiente, Ordenamento do Território e Energia: Jorge Moreira da Silva
Ministra da Agricultura e do Mar: Assunção Cristas
Ministro da Solidariedade, Emprego e Segurança Social: Pedro Mota Soares
Ministro da Economia: Luís Miguel Gubert Morais Leitão
Ministro da Saúde: Fernando Serra Leal da Costa
Ministra da Educação e Ciência: Margarida Isabel Mano Tavares Simões Lopes Marques de Almeida
Ministro da Modernização Administrativa: Rui Pedro Costa Melo Medeiros
Ministra da Cultura, Igualdade e Cidadania: Maria Teresa da Silva Morais
Ministro dos Assuntos Parlamentares: Carlos Henrique da Costa Neves
