PM’s “reshuffle” continues to make use of “home-grown silver”
Fallout from the TAP golden handshake scandal has prompted prime minister António Costa to nominate six new Secretaries of State, along with two new ministers. All will be sworn in in Belém this evening, in the presence of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
They are: Pedro Sousa Rodrigues, who replaces Alexandra Reis (the reason for the scandal) at the treasury, Ana Fontoura Gouveia coming in for energy and climate, Hugo Pires, for the environment, Frederico Francisco, for infrastructure, Fernanda Rodrigues, forhousing, and Carla Alves for agriculture.
According to an official government source, Ms Alves has been nominated because outgoing secretary of state, Rui Martinho, is leaving for health reasons.
Says Lusa, the government sent its list of new secretaries of State to President Marcelo last night – and he has accepted them.
Marcelo has however made it perfectly clear that he feels the prime minister has missed an opportunity for ambition.
He told reporters as he arrived back in the country from Brazil that the latest names, to make up for exits in the wake of the ‘TAP furore’, were a sign that the PM had opted to use “home-grown silver”.
Whether these new appointments will finally bring the stability political leaders crave to face 2023 remains to be seen. Certainly, Mr Costa is full of plans today (see previous top story), embarking on a PRR roadmap to put the wind into the sails of Portugal’s recovery and resilience spending.
