The joint parliamentary sessions of the PSD and CDS-PP will host presidential candidate Luís Marques Mendes, former Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes, and Cardinal Américo Aguiar on Monday and Tuesday in Évora.
Taking place under the theme ‘Transforming Portugal’, the sessions are scheduled in the week of the final parliamentary debate with the Prime Minister concerning “the state of the nation”. The event will conclude on Tuesday with a speech by PSD leader Luís Montenegro.
The opening features a message from the CDS-PP president Nuno Melo, and speeches by the parliamentary leaders of the two parties that formed the pre-election coalition AD: Hugo Soares of the PSD and Paulo Núncio of the CDS-PP.
Before the formal opening, deputies will undertake two visits on Monday morning: to the Évora 2027 – European Capital of Culture Association and the future Alentejo Central Hospital, expected to be completed by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
Following the opening ceremony, the Bishop of Setúbal, Cardinal Américo Aguiar, will give a speech under the theme “Portugal does not leave anyone behind”.
The final panel of the afternoon, themed “The Portugal that makes”, includes speeches by Gonçalo José Regalado, President of the Banco de Fomento, Madalena Oliveira e Silva, the new President of AICEP (Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade), and Leandro Mathias, President of the Deposit and Refund System of Portugal.
That evening, the dinner guest will be presidential candidate Luís Marques Mendes, who has already secured PSD’s support for the upcoming January elections, although CDS-PP has yet to declare its stance.
On the second and final day of the sessions, the panel on “Local Power and State Reform” will feature former Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes, currently the Mayor of Figueira da Foz and an independent candidate backed by the PSD, and Pedro Duarte, former Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in Luís Montenegro’s first PSD/CDS-PP executive and candidate for Mayor of Porto.
The parliamentary sessions will close around lunchtime with speeches from the PSD and CDS-PP parliamentary leaders and the PSD President and Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.
The debate on the “state of action”, the last political discussion featuring Prime Minister Luís Montenegro before the summer recess, is slated for July 17.
These sessions mark the PSD’s first parliamentary meetings since the beginning of the XVII legislature and following the May 18 elections, which AD won.
The previous joint sessions with CDS-PP were held from September 30 to October 1, focusing on the 2025 State Budget and featuring speeches from nearly all ministers of the XXIV Constitutional Government, aside from Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.
The budget was eventually passed with the PS abstaining, but Luís Montenegro’s first government collapsed on March 11, less than a year after taking office, due to the rejection of a confidence motion, amidst a political crisis stemming from a family business of the Prime Minister, Spinumviva, which has since been transferred to his children.
In the early elections held on May 18, the AD coalition (PSD/CDS-PP) again won without an absolute majority, securing 91 of 230 seats (11 more than a year earlier), with 89 from the PSD and two from the CDS-PP.
Chega emerged as the second-largest parliamentary force with 60 seats, followed by the PS with 58, IL with nine, Livre with six, PCP with three, and BE, PAN, and JPP with one seat each.
