The Council of Ministers of the government led by António Costa meets for the last time today and will be chaired by the head of state, with the PRR’s state of play being one of the topics on the agenda.
A government source confirmed to the Lusa news agency that, as the Minister for the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, had said at Thursday’s cabinet meeting, the legislative proposals needed for the fifth disbursement of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) will be ready for approval by the next executive.
As well as the state of play on the implementation of the PRR, today’s meeting will also see the culmination of the legislative process for the reform of rural property and the diploma on the career of scientific research and higher education teachers in the private sector, which has been in public consultation and will be finalized for negotiation with the unions.
The new model for cultural patronage and the National Strategy for the Integration of People Experiencing Homelessness (ENIPSSA) are other pieces of legislation on the Council of Ministers’ agenda, said the same source.
The participation of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in the executive meeting, the first to be held in the new government building on the premises of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, comes at the invitation of the Prime Minister, António Costa’s office announced on Thursday.
In 2016, António Costa extended a similar invitation to Aníbal Cavaco Silva, at the end of his presidential term, at which time a Council of Ministers was held exclusively dedicated to maritime affairs, at the São Julião da Barra Fort in Oeiras.
According to Article 133 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic is empowered to “preside over the Council of Ministers when the Prime Minister so requests”.
The Prime Minister’s agenda today also includes a meeting, at 4pm, with the Independent Technical Commission (CTI) and the chairman of the Monitoring Commission, at which António Costa will be presented with the final report of the assessment of the strategic options for increasing airport capacity in the Lisbon region.
On Thursday, the Commission to Monitor the work of the CTI for the new airport gave a favorable opinion on the final report, which was opposed by the Santarém City Council.
On the 11th, the CTI published the final report of the strategic environmental assessment of the new airport, maintaining the recommendation of a single solution in Alcochete or Vendas Novas, but pointing out that Humberto Delgado + Santarém “could be a solution”.
A few months ago, the PSD decided to set up an internal working group to analyze the location of the new Lisbon airport, after having agreed with the PS to set up a CTI to carry out the strategic environmental assessment.
The Social Democrat president, Luís Montenegro, guaranteed that the decision would be taken “in the first few days” of the government.
The Democratic Alliance (the pre-election coalition that brought together the PSD, CDS-PP and PPM) won the elections on March 10 and the PSD leader was appointed Prime Minister by the President of the Republic. Luís Montenegro will present his government on March 28 and is scheduled to take office on April 2.