Former AICEP President Ricardo Arroja claims that the Minister of Economy justified his dismissal by expressing a desire for a different profile, as stated in a written response to the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Territorial Cohesion.
On Tuesday, Economy Minister Manuel Castro Almeida explained to deputies that Ricardo Arroja’s June dismissal was due to a perceived need for greater “physical presence,” particularly in company interactions.
The official addressed the Economy and Territorial Cohesion Committee, which had requested clarification from Arroja, who responded in writing on September 11, according to the document.
Responding to the PS parliamentary group, Arroja states that during a meeting with the then newly-appointed minister on the afternoon of June 20, Castro Almeida informed him of the desire to have a different profile leading the agency.
“In the absence of reasons justifying my voluntary resignation, my dismissal proceeded the following Monday, June 23, 2025, in accordance with the Public Manager Statute, just over a year after I began my duties,” he states.
He was informed of the dismissal by the office of the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion via a phone call to his Lisbon office at around 3:00 PM, hours after being released by email from a scheduled work meeting set for that same afternoon of June 23, 2025, to which he had been previously summoned.
The meeting was to include Ricardo Arroja, as well as the presidents of IAPMEI and COMPETE.
Arroja adds that “no formal performance evaluation process” was conducted during his tenure.
“Under my leadership, AICEP’s activity expanded in scope and number of initiatives—measured in foreign missions, reverse missions received in Portugal, investment contracts supported by the Portuguese State, as well as other initiatives created and conducted during my term,” he highlights.
When questioned about his relationship with ministers Pedro Reis and Castro Almeida, Arroja describes his relationship with the former as “cordial and professional, marked by operational coordination and strategic convergence between AICEP and the Ministry of Economy, considering the agency’s statutory autonomy under the ministry’s sectoral oversight.”
Regarding the current minister, their relationship “was limited to the meeting on June 20, 2025.”
In his response to the parliamentary committee, Ricardo Arroja emphasizes that during his tenure at AICEP, “the Government, through then Economy Minister Pedro Reis and Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, praised AICEP’s work, including during the 2025 general election period.”
He cites the example of the “televised debate on April 30, 2025, between candidates Luís Montenegro and Pedro Nuno Santos, where Dr. Luís Montenegro explicitly mentioned AICEP and its contribution to boosting investment in Portugal, referring to the good results obtained by the agency in 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.”
In summary, “the work was being carried out dynamically, with results, and in line with the Government’s program, without any formal indication of dissatisfaction from oversight.”
Regarding the mandate’s results, he notes that 2024 “ended with a total investment amount supported by the State, contracted through AICEP, of about 420 million euros—almost entirely contracted” at the end of last year, with “the administration’s defined target exceeded.”
