The President of the Republic oversaw the swearing in of Pedro Passos Coelho and his ministers and secretaries of state which now form Portugal's 20th government.
Both the president and prime minister sent messages to the left wing parties with Passos Coelho warning of the danger of any sharp deviations in Portuguese politics.
During the ceremony at the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon, the president said that he had no choice but to choose the right wing coalition as it was “stable, consistent and credible.”
Cavaco Silva recalled that the 2009 election resulted in the socialist José Sócrates’ minority government and for 40 years Portugal has been run by the party that won the elections, even when the winning party did not have a majority of MPs in parliament.
"No one trusts an ungovernable country," said Cavaco Silva in a clear message to the left wing which is preparing to reject the government's programme and force a ‘no confidence’ vote which will trigger the end of the Passos Coelho premiership.
Passos Coelho’s view of his achievements after four year at Portugal’s helm certainly is rosy with growth, exports, investment and jobs all going rather well.
The new PM then warned of the evils of socialism and the dark arts of lefty politics, "In a context where uncertainty has such a high cost, where trust can be destroyed and where competitiveness easily evaporates, deviations could ruin everything. And the Portuguese once again would be the most vulnerable especially the middle class which will pay the price as in the past. I, as prime minister, will not allow that to happen again.”
Going back to his spotless economic record, Passos Coelho added that , "Portugal has become an attractive country for foreign investment.
"We turned around the chronic deficit in our external accounts and we now have persistent surpluses every year and have increased our exports to levels never before recorded. In spite of the difficulties and financial constraints, we also managed to achieve important results in the social sphere."
Passos Coelho was not expected to dwell on his failures on such an auspicious day but the vote of ‘no confidence’ in his leadership soon will test whether enough MPs believe his claims that everything is on track.
The vote of 'no confidence' is scheduled for November 10th which sets up the coalition for a term of office which could get the prize for brevity, currently held by the provisional government of one month led by Vasco Gonçalves in 1975.
The record for a fully constitutional government was that of Nobre da Costa in 1978 which lasted just three months.
Portugal had six provisional governments between 1974 and 1976 as the new democracy struggled to find its balance.
The first was appointed just after the April 25th revolution with Adelino da Palma Carlos as prime minister, followed two months later by the provisional government of Vasco Gonçalves.
The following three governments also were led by Vasco Gonçalves between September 1974 and 1975. His provisional government between August 8 and September 19, 1975 holds the record which may be beaten in eleven days time when the Passos Coelho government is replaced by a new left wing alliance.
