Once the budget impasse is resolved, the PSD will now focus Congress on “galvanized of the party”, in the promotion of the Government and the preparation of the next electoral cycle: the autarchic. Despite the fact that the PS has announced the viability of the budget, the PSD leaders will not stop criticizing the socialists, in particular the eight years of “stagnation” of the António Costa government. Chega, on the other hand, will continue to be completely ignored, at least according to the official line. Montenegro is also preparing changes in national bodies, with a more oriented direction for the device, similar to what Passos did in power.

HE Wood promises to be a annoyingwhich could culminate with the replacement of the master of ceremonies (the president of Congress, Miguel Albuquerque). The first winds of presidentialwith the approval of the candidate’s profile to be approved. Luís Marques Mendes, who according to the PSD leader is one of those who “best fits” this profile, will be present at the main meeting, but, as the Observer wrote, he will not speak.

The former leader of the PSD, Luís Filipe Menezes, stated that Pedro Nuno Santos – by revealing his vote and promising to make the State Budget viable – “emptied the congress of interest.” But there are many points of interest to consider, starting with knowing what messages Luís Montenegro will leave for the budget debate in the specialty that is now beginning – and that could be a real headache for the Government. The Observer leaves you, however, a script to help you follow the main meeting that will take place this weekend in Braga.

The message: the most successful party and the focus on winning local councils

After weeks of public exhaustion with the State Budget, a source from the PSD leadership explains to the Observer that Congress will “galvanize the party” and demonstrate that “in the last six months the Government has resolved many things that the PS did not resolved in eight years.” The same source affirms that “it is not because the PS has made the budget viable” and the leader praised the “sense of responsibility” that the PSD will stop criticizing the socialists “Especially because now we really have it. “We have to establish differences for the PS,” highlights another leader.

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Asked if the party leadership will turn Chega and André Ventura into piñata policy, one prominent leader simply responded to the Observer with a question: “WHO?” In other words: Luís Montenegro’s position will be to continue ignoring all the accusations of the Chega leader.

The budget process is no longer a priority in messages from management, which relies on the specialty. In Saturday’s more introspective speech, Luís Montenegro will insist on highlighting that the party won four of the last five elections— won the Government (for being “the party with the most votes”), the two regional governments it has, the presidency of the Assembly of the Republic and leads the largest chamber in the country.

Once parliamentary stability has been resolved (for now), the prime minister wants to reinforce the legitimacy of the PSD to govern. And he will reaffirm ambitious objectives, which were reflected in the global strategy motion: “Defeat the local authorities to recover the leadership of the ANMP [Associação Nacional de Municípios Portugueses]”.

A direction for Passos: last minute invitations and renewal without prioritizing the Government

Like Pedro Passos Coelho did, Luís Montenegro kept his address a secret until hours before the last Congress. And that’s what he will do again. The board members themselves, including ministers, were not informed whether or not they would continue until the publication of this article. Invitations will likely only be made on Saturday during the Congress, as Passos did, in what became known as “backstage conversations.”

Pedro Passos Coelho, in the first course he took after coming to Government, chose to have only two governors (Jorge Moreira da Silva and Marco António Costa) at the head of the PSD. And in the second direction he chose, while in the Government, he kept only one governor in the permanent commission (Moreira da Silva), since Marco António, although he continued in the direction, was no longer Secretary of State. It is likely that Luís Montenegro – who has four ministers among six vice presidents – will also choose to reduce the weight of the Government in the party.

The Observer knows that the conversation about whether or not to renew the party leadership has already been held in the core of Montenegro’s political coordination. At that time it was not yet known what would happen to the State Budget and there were two theses: if Pedro Nuno Santos caused a political crisis and early elections, the leadership should not undergo major changes; Once this scenario is eliminated, then it might make sense to return the party leadership to machine social democratic, to prepare the next local authorities within the structures.

Pedro Nuño’s decision apparently made this last thesis become a reality. More sectoral ministers (such as Miguel Pinto Luz) or with obligations that extend beyond borders (such as Pablo Rangel) could leave the party leadership. Not being a minister, Paulo CunhaCurrently an MEP, he is looking for a new life in Brussels and is also considered a possible exit.

A look at the device and the next year of local government could lead Montenegro to choose Carlos Moedas as vice president. However, the mayor himself – in stating a path he has taken for the future leadership of the PSD – anticipated showing unavailability for such option.

In an interview with Público and Renascença, Moedas was clear in saying that he preferred to repeat the 2022 model, in which he brought the so-called “official list” to the National Council: “I can always be available to help the party. I like being number one in the party. National Council, but I am very focused on the executive action of being president of the chamber. don’t have a long time available to be in active politics, exactly for that reason.”

Furthermore, another of the changes that is imminent since the Government took office is the departure of the vice president. Ines Palma Ramalhosince his mother is Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security. The idea is to prevent a future incompatibility situation. For now, Montenegro chooses not to open the game, which makes the composition of the future leadership one of the points of greatest attention in Congress.

A sample of presidential

In Congress, no one can say that it is no longer time to talk about presidential candidates, since the profile of the Belém candidate will be discussed and approved at the proposal of the leader. Nor can it be said that it is time to talk about names, because Luís Montenegro himself has already said that Marques Mendes is one of those who “best fits the profile.” It is in this context that Marques Mendes goes to the PSD Congress, but does not speak, a lifelong right that he has at his disposal as a former leader.

With this presence in Braga, the former leader and political commentator breaks his personal tradition of only attending the first Congress of each new leader. Marques Mendes attended the first Rui Rio Congress, at the beginning of 2018, and the first Luís Montenegro Congress, in July 2022, in a last presence that he justified at the time due to the practice he has followed in recent years. Now he has decided to leave, which is quite a political program.

Unlike Marcelo – who in 2014 stole all the attention on stage in response to Pedro Passos Coelho who referred to him as a “weather vane of erratic opinions” – Mendes does not need to expose himself with a speech. It has the more than announced support of Luís Montenegro’s management and it is not expected that there will be room for other surprises from the PSD and CDS space.

The former leader of the PSD and former opponent of Marques Mendes, Luís Filipe Menezes, told El Observador this Thursday that “in view of the development of alleged candidacies in recent months, I believe that the candidacy of Marques Mendes gained a lot of strength. “A lot of strength in the political sector to which the PSD belongs, but also in the country in general.”

As usual, other former party leaders, such as Pedro Passos Coelho and Rui Rio, will not be present at Congress. The two, as the Observer also wrote, are currently unavailable to enter a presidential race.

The irritating Madeira: the pressure of Albuquerque

After the PSD guaranteed the viability of the state budget for 2025, the president of the PSD-Madeira threatened that the region’s three deputies would vote against the document. On the eve of the Congress, this Friday, Público writes, citing sources from the Madeira regional government, that Albuquerque would be available to raise the threat level to another level: convince the two PSD-Açores deputies to also vote against the OE. in a new arithmetic that would mean leadership in the State Budget.

The Observer knows that José Manuel Bolieiro will not accept Get into Miguel Albuquerque’s game. Sources from the PSD/Açores explain to the Observer that aligning with the Madeira plan is not viable for two reasons: the regional government has managed to have its demands accepted by the Government of the Republic and because “this, which is the style of Albuquerque, It is far from being the Bolieiro style.”

The budget measure is one more process that contributes to the dismissal of Miguel Albuquerque from the presidency of the Congressional Board, although the Montenegrin leadership even values ​​the “effective and clean” way in which it manages the Congresses. The relationship between them cooled with the judicial proceedings in Madeira and when Montenegro said that, if it were him, he would not run again.

“I didn’t need to have said that. It was unnecessary,” a PSD/Madeira source tells the Observer. One of the names mentioned to replace Miguel Albuquerque is precisely José Manuel Bolieiro, who is already part of that organization. Therefore, the leadership continued to belong to the autonomous regions and Montenegro was less exposed to ongoing legal proceedings.