The Diplomat
Portugal’s new prime minister, Luis Montenegro, will visit Madrid on what will be his first official trip as head of the Portuguese government, according to the Portuguese foreign minister, Paulo Rangel.
The Portuguese authorities are already “preparing” for Montenegro’s first official trip, according to Rangel, speaking on the sidelines of the meeting of Atlantic Alliance foreign ministers in Brussels.
On the other hand, the representative of Portuguese diplomacy has confirmed that the day before he held a first meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, according to the Lusa news agency.
Montenegro, leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), won the Portuguese parliamentary elections last March by a narrow margin over the Socialist Party (PS) of Pedro Nuno Santos. The new government took office on Tuesday.
In a subsequent interview on RNE, picked up by Europa Press, Albares confirmed that Rangel’s first meeting was precisely with him and was pleased that Montenegro had chosen Spain as its first destination. “We spoke of the importance of the Iberian alliance between Spain and Portugal, of the joint interests we have,” he said.
The Foreign Affairs Minister pointed out that the forthcoming visit “demonstrates the importance that the Portuguese government, regardless of its political colour, attaches to the Spanish government”.
On the other hand, Albares said he would like the PP to do as Montenegro did in Portugal, after it chose to govern alone instead of with the backing of the extreme right-wing Chega party.
“I would like to have a right-wing party that does not form a government with the extreme right at the slightest possible opportunity”, that “clearly leaves aside the Constitution for many years without renewing the General Council of the Judiciary” and that is now trying to repeal the Law of Democratic Memory.
