Luís Montenegro

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Luís Montenegro
File:Luis Montenegro at EPP Summit, 21 March, Brussels.jpg
Montenegro in 2024
Prime Minister of Portugal
Assumed office
2 April 2024
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Preceded by António Costa
President of the Social Democratic Party
Assumed office
1 July 2022
Secretary-General Hugo Soares
Preceded by Rui Rio
Leader of the Opposition
In office
1 July 2022 – 2 April 2024
Prime Minister António Costa
Preceded by Rui Rio
Succeeded by Pedro Nuno Santos
President of the Parliamentary Group of the Social Democratic Party
In office
29 June 2011 – 19 July 2017[1]
Preceded by Miguel Macedo
Succeeded by Hugo Soares
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
In office
26 March 2024 – 2 April 2024
Constituency Lisbon
In office
4 April 2002 – 5 April 2018
Constituency Aveiro
Personal details
Born Luís Filipe Montenegro Cardoso de Morais Esteves
(1973-02-16) 16 February 1973 (age 51)
Porto, Portugal
Political party Social Democratic Party (1991–present)
Spouse(s) Carla Montenegro
(m. 2000)
Children 2
Alma mater Catholic University of Portugal
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • politician

Luís Filipe Montenegro Cardoso de Morais Esteves (born 16 February 1973)[2] is a Portuguese politician and lawyer currently serving as the Prime Minister of Portugal since 2024. He is the President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and leads the 24th Constitutional Government.

Montenegro was a member of the Assembly of the Republic from Aveiro from 2002 to 2018, leading his party's parliamentary group between 2011 and 2017. After being defeated by Rui Rio in his party's 2020 leadership election, he won against Jorge Moreira da Silva in 2022 and became President of the PSD.

Under Montenegro’s leadership, the PSD reached an agreement with the party CDS-PP and formed the centre-right Democratic Alliance ahead of the 2024 Portuguese legislative election. The Democratic Alliance took the most seats in the election with 80, two more than the Socialist Party. He was appointed Prime Minister by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, leading the XXIV Constitutional Government, a coalition minority government.

Biography

Education and local politics

Montenegro was born in Porto and raised in Espinho in the Aveiro District.[3] He graduated from the Porto School of Law at the Catholic University of Portugal and became a lawyer, the same profession as his father and grandfather.[4][5] He was president of the Social Democratic Youth in Espinho from 1994 to 1996. He served on the city's council from 1997 to 2001, and ran for mayor in 2005, losing to José Mota of the Socialist Party (PS) by a 45% to 38% margin.[2][6]

Assembly of the Republic

In 2002, 29-year-old Montenegro was elected to the Assembly of the Republic for Aveiro. He became the PSD parliamentary group's deputy leader to Miguel Macedo in 2010, and he received 86% of the votes to lead the group in June 2011, after PSD member Pedro Passos Coelho had been elected prime minister.[7]

The early years of Montenegro's leadership coincided with the European troika intervention to deal with the financial crisis; he was criticised in January 2014 for saying "the life of the people is no better, but the life of the country is a lot better".[3] He left parliament in February 2018 after Passos Coelho's resignation, warning that the PSD should not turn into new leader "Rui Rio's group of friends".[8]

Leader of the PSD

File:Luís Montenegro, 40.º Congresso do PSD 2022.png
Montenegro, speaks at the PSD's 40th National Congress, 12 July 2022

In January 2020, Montenegro was a candidate in the PSD leadership election, challenging Rio. During the campaign, Rio attacked Montenegro for being a Freemason.[9][10] In the run-off, Rio won with 53.2% of the votes.[11]

Rio resigned following the PSD's poor performance in the 2022 Portuguese legislative election. Montenegro was the first person to put himself forward for the party leadership election,[12] in which he ran against former minister Jorge Moreira da Silva. Montenegro won with 72.47% of the votes, beating his opponent in every district.[13]

Under Montenegro’s leadership, the PSD reached an agreement in January 2024 with the CDS-PP for a pre-electoral alliance as they sought to bolster their chances of winning the national elections later that year.[14] The Democratic Alliance took the most seats in the election with 80, two more than the PS.[15]

On 21 March 2024, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa formally issued Montenegro an invitation to form a government. Montenegro's new government was then presented to, and approved by, the president on 28 March.[16][17]

Prime Minister of Portugal

File:Luís Montenegro, discurso de tomada de posse 2024-04-02 (Agência Lusa).png
Montenegro delivers his first speech as Prime Minister in Ajuda Palace, 2 April 2024

Montenegro was sworn-in as Prime Minister of Portugal, heading the XXIV Constitutional Government, on 2 April 2024 at a ceremony in the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon.[18][19] Prior to taking office, Montenegro vowed to govern with a minority government instead of forming a coalition with the ascendant right-wing populist party Chega, and decried their leader André Ventura as "often xenophobic, racist, populist and excessively demagogic".[20]

Political positions

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Leader of his parliamentary group between 2011 and 2015, he defended the implementation of a strict economic austerity program negotiated by Portugal in exchange for an international financial bailout.[21]

Ahead of the 2024 national elections, Montenegro promised the full privatisation of TAP Air Portugal.[22]

Personal life

Montenegro was nicknamed Ervilha ("Pea") as a child for being small, round-figured and green-eyed, while his immediate family knew him by his middle name, Filipe.[5] He took part in football and beach volleyball, and worked as a lifeguard as a youth, later taking up golf.[3] In football, he supports FC Porto and S.C. Espinho, the teams of his birthplace and residence, respectively.[23] As of May 2022, he is married and has two children.[3]

A variety of sources dating from 2012, including SAPO's Polígrafo fact-checking website, Público, Expresso, Jornal de Negócios and Diário de Notícias maintain that in 2008, Montenegro was admitted into the Mozart Lodge, a Masonic lodge comprising politicians, businessmen and spies.[24][25][26][27][28] In 2019, Montenegro denied being a Freemason.[29]

Controversies

In 2023, an anonymous complaint was sent to the Portuguese Public Prosecution Service stating that Montenegro received tax benefits granted for the restoration of old buildings when he did a complete demolition of an old building and built a new one in its place, in Espinho. A criminal investigation was later opened.[30][31][32]

Electoral history

PSD leadership election, 2020

Ballot: 11 and 18 January 2020
Candidate 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
Rui Rio 15,546 49.0 17,157 53.2
Luís Montenegro 13,137 41.4 15,086 46.8
Miguel Pinto Luz 3,030 9.6  
Blank/Invalid ballots 369 – 341 –
Turnout 32,082 79.01 32,582 80.20
Source: Official results

PSD leadership election, 2022

Ballot: 28 May 2022
Candidate Votes %
Luís Montenegro 19,241 72.5
Jorge Moreira da Silva 7,306 27.5
Blank/Invalid ballots 437 –
Turnout 26,984 60.46
Source: Official results

References

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  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Sergio Goncalves and Catarina Demony (5 January 2024), Portugal's main opposition seals pre-electoral alliance with right-wing party CDS-PP Reuters.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Sergio Goncalves and Andrei Khalip (5 December 2023), Portugal's Social Democratic Party contender for PM wants full privatisation of airline TAP Archived 12 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine Reuters.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Social Democratic Party
2022–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition
2022–2024		 Succeeded by
Pedro Nuno Santos
Preceded by Prime Minister of Portugal
2024–present		 Incumbent

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