“Yes, the current government, the 25th Constitutional Government, is a ‘Sá Carneirista’ government,” he emphasized. “Indeed, the leadership of the PSD is a ‘Sá Carneirista’ leadership and it is ‘Sá Carneirista’ in what is its essence, the foundation, the core, the heart of our political soul.”
Luís Montenegro was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the exhibition “Francisco Sá Carneiro and the Construction of Portuguese Democracy,” organized by the Ephemera Archive, which can be visited until January 31, 2026, in Lisbon.
The Prime Minister mentioned that he draws “much from the founding values of Sá Carneiro’s political intervention” in his legacy and values.
Luís Montenegro admitted that this consideration might be seen as “provocative, controversial,” but he expressed his willingness to “discuss” his position in relation to Sá Carneiro “with anyone.”
“I have no problem saying that the current Government is a ‘Sá Carneirista’ Government, Sá Carneirista in all its expression, in all its instinct and in all its understanding of Portuguese society, in its intervention in Portuguese society, in the transformation of Portuguese society, to fulfill its ultimate goal, which is the improvement of living conditions and the well-being of every person,” he explained.
The social-democratic leader noted that historical circumstances, politics, national and international reality, as well as the European context, are “radically different,” but the current Government shares “the same spirit, the same inspiration.”
“The inspiration of those who count on all sectors of society to create, to generate more wealth, of those who believe that in people’s free initiative and their institutions lies the root of social and economic intervention that generates wealth, economy, economic vigor that allows policymakers to pursue social policies that leave no one behind and that enhance the individual condition of each human being, of each woman and each man, who consider the greatest design of a politician, which is to give each human being an opportunity to be what they want,” he maintained.
“The politician we see in Sá Carneiro and whom we take inspiration from today to translate into our action in terms of thought is that politician who does not want to force anyone to be what they do not want to be, who does not want to impose anything on anyone, but wants to provide everyone with the tools to be what they want to be. And then each one is what they want according to the use they make of the tools available to them,” he argued.
Montenegro considered this “the root of Sá Carneiro’s thought” and the “root of Portuguese-style social-democratic thought,” positioned between “socialism and a more rigid conservatism, between center-left and center-right, as Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has so often invoked, even long before becoming President of the Republic, as the intervention space of the PPD-PSD spectrum.”
The ceremony featured speeches from the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the head of the Ephemera Archive, José Pacheco Pereira, and the provider of Lisbon’s Santa Casa da Misericórdia, Paulo Alexandre Sousa, followed by a visit to the exhibition.
Also present were the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, the mayors of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, and Porto, Rui Moreira, Cardinal Américo Aguiar, presidential candidate and former PSD leader, Luís Marques Mendes, and Sá Carneiro’s secretary, Conceição Monteiro.
