José Sena Goulão / LUSA
Luís Montenegro and António José Seguro
Despite not having intervened much yet, Seguro’s presence has already been felt in the work package and in supporting the populations affected by the fires. The new President has also distanced himself from the Government of the United States.
The new President of the Republic hasn’t said much yet, but he has already said something. On Monday, the very day he began his duties, Antonio José Seguro messages about the employment package.
During the presidential campaign, Seguro had warned that he could politically veto the diploma if it arrived in Belém without relevant changes. Given the impasse in negotiations with UGT on the labor packagethe head of state publicly asked for the parties to return to the negotiating table, defending the need for a “balanced agreement”.
Hours later, the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, guaranteed that the Government would try to relaunch the dialogue and revealed that it would be a new meeting scheduled with the employers’ confederations and the UGT, signaling a reopening of the negotiation process. However, despite the President’s appeals, the new talks did not bear fruit, with the Government accusing trade unionists of being intransigent. New negotiations are scheduled for this Monday.
The presidential visit to the interior of the country also brought to the center of the debate the delays in support for populations affected by the fires of 2025. After hearing that around four million euros were still to be paid in relation to losses caused by the fires, Seguro asked the Government “Less words, more actions“.
Political pressure ended up accelerating the creation of the Independent Technical Commission designed to evaluate the response to the fires, which was still incomplete despite having been approved months ago. Two days after the President’s statements, the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities sent to Parliament the two names missing to complete the list of specialists.
Disagreement on foreign policy
In his inauguration speech, António José Seguro also made clear his different position from the Government in terms of policy International.
In an apparent reference to the conflict in Iran, but directly mentioning countries or leaders, Seguro criticized the current international order, stating that “the force of law has been replaced by the power of the strongest” and that “pillars of the international organization are collapsing”.
“This new reality demands more rigor and commitment from all of us”, he stated, warning that “the most vulnerable countries” no longer know whether they can count on the protection of international law and “historical and structuring alliances of the West”.
During the presidential campaign, the now head of state had already defended the need for a “objective” analysis of foreign policy developments of the United States and announced that the topic would be discussed in its first Council of State.
The position contrasts with the Government’s approach, which has adopted a tone more aligned with Washington and allowed the use of the Lajes Base by the United States. Days earlier, in Parliament, the Prime Minister argued that international crises of this magnitude cannot be analyzed only “in light of the positivism of the rules”. During the Iberian Summit, Montenegro reaffirmed that Portugal is “next to the USA, an unavoidable ally”, in clear contrast with Spain, which .
Sources close to the Presidency interviewed indicate that Seguro sought to make a difference in style and show himself as “defender of the rule of law (Guterres doctrine), while the Government is pro-American”.
In this context, Seguro’s first words in Belém were interpreted by diplomatic observers as a sign that Portuguese foreign policy could begin to reflect with greater visibility the coexistence of two institutional sensibilities: that of the Government and that of the Presidency of the Republic.
