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President Anibal Cavaco Silva accepted, on July 23, the reform presented by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, two days after negotiations between the three major parties (PS, PSD and CDS-PP) broke down before reaching a compromise on “national salvation”.
Two years after his government took office, Passos Coelho has reformed his executive, ending the super-ministeries of economy and agriculture and creating a new ministry of the environment, territorial planning and energy. Rui Machete, an figure from PSD party (center-right), takes up the top spot in foreign affairs left vacant by Paulo Portas, who now assumes the role of deputy prime minister. At the same time, his party CDS-PP (right) strengths its position within the coalition, by getting the finance ministry into the hands of economist António Pires de Lima.
This renovation, says Público,
perhaps with too much pomp [...] suggests the opening of a new political and economic cycle and extends the horizon of governmental stability until 2015. [...] The inauguration of the ministers, today, is the first step to the zero hour of a government that, worn out, can no longer afford the luxury of more “tantrums” or failures.
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