Pedro Passos Coelho, former Portuguese prime minister, has issued a new warning to the current prime minister, Luís Montenegro, alerting that "time is running out" to implement a transformative agenda for the country. This warning appears in the preface of the book "Portugal na Paz dos Bloqueios," written by Pedro Gomes Sanches and cited by Expresso.
Passos Coelho considers that a transformative agenda requires two legislative terms to be completed, with the first needing to be sufficiently mobilizing and successful to drive the second. The former leader warns that "this time, which has been stretched due to the electoral fragility of Governments and their scant parliamentary support, is running out," adding that the three years remaining of the legislative term should not be wasted lamenting what was left behind.
The former prime minister is also coordinating with Sérgio Sousa Pinto and Nuno Botelho a study that diagnoses Portugal as "blocked" in a "low-growth equilibrium." In the preface, he leaves recommendations for Montenegro in areas such as pensions, advocating for structural changes to the model, and in housing, suggesting it is possible to resolve the supply deficit without continuing to stimulate demand, which according to him only worsens prices and injustice.
Passos Coelho, who has criticized the Executive's lack of reformist momentum over the past year, states that "without an exercise of conviction and leadership, it is less likely that people will believe in the importance of transformative agendas." He argues that when economic conditions are more favorable, politicians fear advocating reforms so as not to mortgage the support needed to maintain power, and that it falls to political leadership to counteract this paradox.
