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There are changes of Government, with the departure of two Secretaries of State and the entry of as many government officials. Francisco André joins the Executive as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Rui Costa Martinho heads the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Rural Development.
These names will occupy the functions hitherto performed by Teresa Gonçalves Ribeiro and Nuno Tiago dos Santos Russo, respectively, who leave the Government at their own request, according to the note published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic. The two new governors will take office tomorrow at 6:00 p.m., in a ceremony to be held at the Palace of Belém.
Francisco André is someone close to the prime minister, of whom he was chief of staff until last August, when he was replaced by Vítor Escária, having already been elected in September to the position of chief adviser of thePermanent Portuguese election to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Rui Costa Martinho, until now president of the board of directors of the Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Financing, returns to a ministry he knows well. In addition to stints in other functions related to the agricultural sector, he was an advisor to the office of the Secretary of State for Rural Development between 1998 and 2002, having subsequently served as assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, in 2015 and 2016 .
These movements take place at important moments for both ministries, and which are related to the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union that Portugal will occupy as of January 1. In the case of Francisco André, who will be mentored by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, assumes the portfolio just over two weeks after the start of the Portuguese presidency, which will last six months. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates the EU presidency, which will have to put the so-called European bazooka on the ground.
In relation to Rui Costa Martinho, he arrives at the Ministry of Agriculture, chaired by Maria do Céu Antunes, at a time when the reform process of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is taking place, which may be closed during the Portuguese presidency of the Union. who is in charge of leading the negotiations with the European Commission and the European Parliament with the aim of final approval of the new CAP during the first half of 2021.
On the other hand, this mini remodeling comes precisely at a time when the Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, is in a strong challenge after the death of a Ukrainian citizen while he was in the custody of the SEF, in the facilities from Lisbon airport. Despite the pressure, the prime minister, António Costa, guarantees to have total confidence in his minister, of whom he is a personal friend.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in an interview with the SIC, realized this even when he stressed that the continuity of the minister was not at stake, since António Costa himself assured to maintain political trust in Eduardo Cabrita .
On another level, the commentator Marques Mendes defended, this Sunday, that there should have been another stir in the Government. Marques Mendes believes that Pedro Nuno Santos was publicly overruled by António Costa in the matter of the parliamentary vote on TAP’s restructuring plan, with the commentator arguing that the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing should have gone off on his own two feet.
(Updated news)
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