Prior to the second round of queries, Luís Montenegro provided clarification, sparking a debate between the Government and the PS benches.
The Prime Minister concluded the first round with less than three minutes to answer questions from parliamentarians. He agreed to anticipate 10 minutes from the time allocated for Tuesday and stated that he would address all concerns in aggregate.
This decision prompted protests from PS parliamentary leader Eurico Brilhante Dias, who argued that the time was insufficient to respond “with dignity” and challenged the Government to allocate at least 20 minutes from its time.
Montenegro refused, stating that he would require at least 60 minutes for the four planned government interventions. He maintained that he used the same amount of time as each of the benches during the first round, in addition to the initial 20-minute statement.
Following this, Brilhante Dias inquired about the government officials who would be speaking in the debate, noting that this information would be “useful” for his bench’s preparation.
The Prime Minister responded that, though not customary, there was no issue in informing that the Minister of State and Finance, the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, and the Minister of Environment and Energy would be speaking, though he did not specify if any would speak today.
On the suggestion of Parliament Vice-President Teresa Morais, who was leading the proceedings, the Prime Minister agreed to group the 34 queries into sets of four, allowing three minutes to respond to each set.
