The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, will travel to Madrid today, where he will be received by his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, in what is the first official visit of the new leader of the Portuguese government.
A source in Luís Montenegro’s office told Lusa that the choice of Madrid for the prime minister’s first trip shows “the importance he attaches to the historic relationship and cooperation” between Portugal and Spain.
According to the same source, this meeting will serve to prepare the next Portuguese-Spanish summit, which has no date yet.
The Madrid meeting also aims to “strengthen the position of the two countries in relation to the European Union”, said Luís Montenegro’s office.
On Madrid’s side, the Spanish government has only said that the issues Sánchez intends to discuss with Montenegro include the situation in the Middle East and the recognition of the Palestinian state.
Pedro Sánchez has pledged to recognize Palestine as a state in the first half of this year, arguing that this is a necessary step to try to open a peace process in the Middle East.
Luís Montenegro said on Friday in parliament that he supports the so-called two-state solution (Israel and Palestine), but the Portuguese government “doesn’t exactly have the same position” as Pedro Sánchez.
Social Democrat Luís Montenegro will be received this afternoon by Socialist Pedro Sánchez at the Moncloa, the seat of the Spanish government, and this is the only item on the agenda for the Prime Minister’s official visit to Madrid.
Pedro Sánchez publicly congratulated Luís Montenegro on April 5, days after the new prime minister took office, and said that the two countries would continue to work together as “strategic partners and allies”.
“Portugal is a brother country with which we have deep historical ties of cooperation and friendship. We will continue to work together as strategic partners and allies,” wrote Pedro Sánchez on the social network X (formerly Twitter), in a post in which he revealed that he had spoken to Montenegro by telephone.
The Portuguese Prime Minister, on the same day, and also on the X social network, said he wanted to strengthen the alliance between the two countries “with the well-being” of both peoples in mind.
“Thank you, Pedro Sánchez, for your words of congratulations and your willingness to continue the historic relations of friendship and cooperation between our countries,” wrote Luís Montenegro.
