Em remarks to journalists on the sidelines of a visit to the construction of drainage tunnels in Lisbon, held on World Environment Day, Luís Marques Mendes praised the creation of the Ministry of State Reform, calling for its priorities to be defined.
“The name is grandiose. No one knows exactly what the Ministry of State Reform will be. (…) If it is a ministry to combat bureaucracy, it’s a great idea. If it is a ministry to promote simplification for people and companies, very well. Therefore, it is fundamental at this moment to define what the priority is,” he stated.
Marques Mendes refused to comment on the choices for ministers but considered that the executive “gives a signal of solidity” and “a concern to be a legislature government.”
However, the presidential candidate warned that this solidity must be accompanied by “dialogue between the government and opposition parties.”
The president of the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, Gonçalo Saraiva Matias, will be Minister Adjunct and of State Reform, a new position in the XXV Government.
In the last National Council of the PSD, last Thursday, the Prime Minister had already pointed to administrative modernization and the fight against bureaucracy as major priorities of the XXV Constitutional Government.
Regarding António José Seguro’s presidential candidacy announcement, Mendes said he “democratically welcomes” his entry into the race to Belém, stating that he knows the former PS Secretary-General well and that they will have room for “confrontations of ideas and positions.”
