By United Workers (TU), Portuguese section of the IWU-FI
Just like the previous government of António Costa, which fell due to suspicions of influence peddling in its executive, Montenegro’s government is most likely about to fall, a year to the day after being elected, following a scandal around the conflict of his business interests and the fulfilment of his duties as prime minister.
This new chapter in the regime’s crisis shows that the parties of the bosses, the centre-right PSD (Social Democratic Party) and centre-left PS (Socialist Party), continue to face instability and distrust caused by the collusion between their governance and big economic interests, for whom they have always governed. The truth is that, with or without elections, the crisis will not be resolved, and it certainly won’t be in favour of the workers. We need to build a political alternative and fight back!
Logrolling and conflicts of interest: Montenegro shows what it’s like to govern ‘like a boss’
With each passing day, new cases emerge linking the prime minister and his close circle to ‘horse-trading’ and conflicts of interest. The first to be implicated was Hernâni Dias, who, according to Montenegro, acted ‘recklessly’ by setting up two property companies ready to profit from the new land law, which he himself helped draft. However, if Hernâni Dias was reckless, Montenegro was scandalously brazen.
Already haunted by the case of the payment of 715,000 euros for two houses in Lisbon, done in cash through a scheme with several bank accounts worth less than 41,000 euros in order to evade tax returns, it now comes to light the case of ‘Spinumviva’, a consultancy company founded by Montenegro in 2021, which made 650,000 euros, in strange circumstances to say the least, in just two years.
Although Montenegro’s wife and children are partners in this enterprise, this ‘money tree’, disguised as a family business, is in fact Montenegro’s sole proprietorship, which relies exclusively on his personal contacts. Spinumviva has no real business activity. It functions as a channel through which Montenegro receives money from economic groups that depend on government decisions.
Among the clients is the petrol company Joaquim Barros Rodrigues & Filhos, whose owner is the father of João Rodrigues, the PSD candidate for Braga City Council. This company paid Spinumviva 194,000 euros in a single year, i.e. half of its total turnover. Another of the company’s clients is Solverde, for whom Montenegro was a lawyer in the negotiations between the company and the state, which extended the casino contract until the end of 2025, and which paid Spinumviva 4,700 euros a month. It’s not surprising that the Prime Minister missed the summit marking three years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine to play golf with his friend, the owner of Solverde.
Involved up to his neck in dodgy practices, Montenegro tries to present himself as a devoted ‘family man’, blaming everyone but himself for the political crisis. This attitude has fuelled all kinds of shenanigans, such as the strategy of passing on ownership of the Spinumviva company to his wife, to whom he is shares an asset union, with the sole purpose of masking his interests and business dealings, in a scheme so obvious that only the PSD pretends not to understand it.
From blackmail to blackmail until the final fall
With this whole series of cases centred on the prime minister, the government is at risk. After surviving two motions of no confidence, Montenegro is now facing a motion of confidence tabled by himself. If he doesn’t get enough support in Parliament – a virtually certain scenario – the government will fall, paving the way for early elections.
The truth is that Luís Montenegro has always wanted elections. From the very start of his minority government, he has threatened early elections, instability and political crises, in an attempt to obtain a majority that will guarantee him stability – stability not for the workers, but for his businesses and the interests of the big bosses.
Let’s remember that, during the election of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Montenegro made it clear that the lack of support for Aguiar Branco’s candidacy could lead to early elections. Also, during the discussion of the government programme, Montenegro repeated the threat: if the programme was rejected, he would interpret it as a vote of no confidence and could call for early elections. During the vote on the State Budget, the same strategy was used. The government and the President of the Republic continually played on the spectre of early elections to force the parties to give in.
In order for the motion of confidence to fail, the PS would have to vote against it, which Pedro Nuno Santos has already said he is willing to do, even though the PS is not exactly interested in going to early elections, and is why its leader has been pleading with the PSD to withdraw the motion of confidence. However, it also doesn’t benefit from protecting the government in a crisis of this nature, leading it to reject the motion of confidence – as it has already announced it will do.
For its part, Chega, the far-right party, which is still suffering from a series of criminal cases that have come to light, is also not interested in new elections, and would also be jeopardised if it supported the government. André Ventura has already confirmed that the party will vote against the motion of confidence, despite the fact that Chega is currently the party with the biggest drop in voting intentions in the polls. Everything points to the government falling, with the PS and Chega voting against the confidence vote, and Montenegro finally getting the election he has wanted since he took office.
In the meantime, the representatives of big business, along with Carlos Moedas (Lisbon mayor) and the usual employers’ representatives, are coming out and saying that “the people don’t want elections or a political crises”, trying to point the blame of this political crisis on the opposition which, despite having provided everything this government has needed to date, Montenegro continues to accuse of not letting him govern.
However, what workers really don’t want is a prime minister that is paid for by big business, or a government that passes laws to enrich its own businesses and those of its friends, and that does nothing to solve the housing crisis, the destruction of public services and low wages.
Government(s) in decline, regime in crisis: what way out for workers and youth?
This crisis doesn’t just reflect problems in terms of lack of transparency, nor is it just another governmental crisis. It is a crisis of an entire regime, with discredited characters and institutions, which maintains a system that works for the powerful at the expense of workers and which is therefore doomed to face recurring crises.
While parliamentary parties vie for power, workers and young people continue to suffer from concrete difficulties: low wages, precariousness, the degradation of public services and an unprecedented housing crisis. The solution to this crisis is not to replace one prime minister or regime party with another. The key is to understand who the government really serves, because as long as big economic interests continue to dictate the rules, nothing will change.
Therefore, regardless of the outcome of this crisis, reality will not be transformed by politicians or elections without the organised intervention of the workers. The central issue is not just who wields power, but for whose benefit it is wielded. For real change, a programme that breaks with the policies that favour big business and puts workers‘ needs at the centre of decision-making is indispensable – something that will only be possible with a workers’ government.
United Workers: come build this alternative with us
TU (United Workers) has not yet completed its legalisation process and will therefore not be able to stand in these elections, should they be held. However, one thing is certain: If from the PS we expect nothing different from the PSD, looking to its left, neither Livre, BE (Left Bloc) nor PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) have presented themselves as a real alternative for the country. The sectarianism of the PCP and BE in not presenting themselves together is only surpassed by the opportunism of, like Livre, submitting to the PS and its policies, paving the way for the far right to become the sole voice of opposition.
That’s why it’s crucial to build a workers’ alternative, independent of the regime and the interests of big company owners. The government crisis can’t be a parliamentary spectacle or a game of swapping chairs; it must serve to mobilise the fight for a real social transformation that serves the interests of the working people. TU is the tool we are building to achieve this transformation.
We are currently campaigning to legalise TU as a political party, which will allow us to defend our ideas and present our proposals in electoral periods, reaching out to more people. We need your support. Join us!
