The President of the Republic today recommended that the Prime Minister exercise his mandate with political patience, without raising expectations or creating illusory ambitions for citizens, stressing the difficulty of the international situation and domestic challenges.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was speaking after swearing in the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, and the ministers of the XXIV Constitutional Government, at a ceremony at the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon.
In his speech, referring to the governability conditions of the new PSD/CDS/PP minority executive, the head of state quoted the historic socialist Salgado Zenha, saying that there are always solutions in a democracy, and the work of Friar Manuel Bernardes, from the 17th century.
“It means: breaking a problem into several smaller ones and solving them one by one without losing sight of the whole, with patience, without raising expectations or creating illusory ambitions. It may not be spectacular in this time of great emotions, passions, seductions by the immediate sensation. But it could be a path with virtues,” said the President of the Republic.
In Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s view, the Portuguese will only gain if, “with this or another path, the prime minister can match the vote they gave to the coalition he led and even many others that they didn’t give him, as long as they both understand that it’s good that he succeeds, because that success will benefit everyone.”
“Just as the Portuguese will only win if, with the same humility and determination with which he arrived, he never forgets them: From the young people who this time bet on the young, to the less young people who refused to lose hope,” he added.
Earlier, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had sworn in the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, and the ministers of the XXIV Constitutional Government, in a ceremony at the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon.
In the Ambassadors’ Room of the Ajuda National Palace, 23 days after the early parliamentary elections on March 10, the head of state swore in the prime minister and then the 17 ministers of the minority executive formed by PSD and CDS-PP.
The XXIV Constitutional Government will be complete with the swearing-in of the Secretaries of State, scheduled for Friday.
At today’s ceremony, which began at exactly 6pm, the members of the new executive were called up one by one, in hierarchical order, to take the oath and sign the instrument of investiture, a process that lasted around 13 minutes.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by the new President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, the outgoing Prime Minister, António Costa, and outgoing ministers from the previous government, as well as the Attorney General, Lucília Gago.
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