Hugo Soares spoke to journalists at the Assembly of the Republic after the designated Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, submitted to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa the names of the 16 ministers who constitute the XXV Constitutional Government.
“The Government presented today by the Prime Minister gives great confidence to the country, as it reflects a commitment to significant reformist impetus, economic growth, and social policies. Regarding sovereign areas, there is a noticeable concern with responsibility,” stated the president of the PSD Parliamentary Group.
Asked about the retention of Health Minister Ana Paula Martins in the government, Hugo Soares justified it based on the “results” achieved by her over the past year.
“If we want to analyze the results and the facts, we must then be factual in our analysis of these results. A year ago, when this Government took office, the National Health Service was in utter chaos,” he argued.
The leader of the Social Democratic bench admitted that the Health portfolio still requires “a lot of work,” but in his view, today, “Portuguese people wait less time for surgeries, spend less time in emergency rooms, and more Portuguese have a family doctor than they did a year ago.”
“We are faced with the demand for a structural task that needs to be done, and it’s not by changing the minister, especially when the one currently in office has shown results, that we will overcome the obstacles that, unfortunately, still exist in the health sector in Portugal,” he concluded.
Regarding the new introductions in Luís Montenegro’s government, Hugo Soares highlighted the appointment of Gonçalo Matias as Minister Adjunct and of State Reform.
“The Portuguese know that one of the great obstacles to their lives, to the lives of companies, is bureaucracy. Often, it is the excess of the state; other times, it is the lack of state where it is needed. We will now have a minister overseeing state reform, being an Adjunct [to the Prime Minister], which gives him political strength within the government,” emphasized the president of the PSD Parliamentary Group.
Hugo Soares further noted that the Prime Minister “had already stated that the major concern was related to the blockages that the economy faces—blockages resulting from bureaucracy that necessitate state modernization.”
“And for that, political strength is required, someone who has the characteristics to be able to give that push, and it seems to me that Dr. Gonçalo Matias’s profile is absolutely unassailable,” he maintained.
