PM to explain family real estate company to parliament on Friday

Portugal’s prime minister, Luís Montenegro, has declared that he is “very calm” about the situation of his family’s real estate company and once again referred explanations to the debate on the motion of censure in parliament.

“I’ve already had the opportunity to say, there is a motion of censure that has been tabled, which deals with this matter, I will provide all the clarifications in parliament,” he said in response to journalists at the Portuguese Embassy in Brasilia on Wednesday.

“I am very calm, I will do what is my duty, with all the tranquillity of someone who has always honoured his personal, professional and political life by criteria of honesty, tolerance and respect for everyone,” added Luís Montenegro.

The prime minister expressed his “conviction that the parliamentarians, first hand, in front of me, and the country will realise” that this is the case.

Asked if he regretted not having clarified the case straight away, the prime minister repeated: “I will give all the clarifications that are asked of me in parliament next Friday, as I had the opportunity to do the first time I was asked.”

Journalists asked him if it wasn’t in the Portuguese interest to clarify at this point what is at stake with the company in which he was a partner and which now belongs to his wife and their children.

Luís Montenegro gave the same answer: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, don’t get me wrong, I can say it many times. Next Friday I will be in parliament and I will provide the representatives of the Portuguese people with all the clarifications they ask of me on this, on the governance of the country, as is my responsibility.”

The prime minister claimed that he has never shied away from giving explanations and, asked why he has remained silent not only on this case, but on other issues, he replied: “I have been working every day for the sake of the quality of life of the Portuguese, for the sake of the future of the Portuguese.”

“And I think the Portuguese realise this, I think the Portuguese realise that I focus on what is essential, without shying away from also being available to answer day-to-day questions,” he said.

Then, turning to the journalist who had questioned him, he added: “You see, these issues are often not exactly what concerns the Portuguese women and men sitting at the table at home.”

“So I have to know how to reconcile everything, I try to do it with balance. I think the Portuguese understand me, honestly. I don’t mean that it’s not legitimate to ask all the questions. I’ve never shied away from answering anything and that’s what I’ll continue to do,” he added.

On Tuesday, when he landed in Brasilia, where he took part in the 14th Luso-Brazilian Summit, the prime minister wrote a message on the social network X, warning that he didn’t intend to talk about the “current domestic political situation” during his trip to Brazil, which only ends on Thursday in São Paulo.

“Out of respect for Portugal’s representation at the important summit we are about to hold and for the Portuguese parliament, I refer all due consideration of the current domestic political situation to the debate on the motion of censure that will take place after my return to our country,” he explained.

Correio da Manhã newspaper reported on Saturday that Luís Montenegro’s family company Spinumviva “could benefit from the change to the land law approved by the government” and that, as the prime minister “is married to the firm’s main partner”, this would leave him “in a situation of potential conflict of interest”.

In response to the newspaper, the prime minister maintained that there is no conflict of interest and said that since 30 June 2022 he has not been a partner in the company, of which he was the founder and manager, and that “no real estate business linked to the legislative amendment” of the land law “has ever been, is not and will not be the object of the company’s activity”.

On Sunday, the leader of the Chega Party, André Ventura, threatened to table a motion of censure against the PSD/CDS-PP government if the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, didn’t give the country an explanation on this matter, which hasn’t happened yet, and the motion has since been delivered, and will be debated and voted on Friday.

On Monday, André Ventura said that the company in question is based in Luís Montenegro’s house in Espinho, and demanded that the country’s president look at the prime minister’s current political conditions to remain in office.

Although he distanced himself from the motion of censure, the secretary-general of the opposition Socialist Party, PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, considered that this case is “very similar” to the one that led to the resignation of the secretary of state Hernâ