Luís Montenegro

Luís Filipe Montenegro Cardoso de Morais Esteves (born 16 February 1973) is a Portuguese politician and lawyer currently serving as the Prime Minister of Portugal since 2024. He is the President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and leads the 24th Constitutional Government.

Montenegro was a member of the Assembly of the Republic from Aveiro from 2002 to 2018, leading his party's parliamentary group between 2011 and 2017. After being defeated by Rui Rio in his party's 2020 leadership election, he won against Jorge Moreira da Silva in 2022 and became President of the PSD.

Under Montenegro’s leadership, the PSD reached an agreement with the party CDS-PP and formed the centre-right Democratic Alliance ahead of the 2024 Portuguese legislative election. The Democratic Alliance took the most seats in the election with 80, two more than the Socialist Party. He was appointed Prime Minister by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, leading the XXIV Constitutional Government, a coalition minority government.

Education and local politics
Montenegro was born in Porto and raised in Espinho in the Aveiro District. He graduated from the Porto School of Law at the Catholic University of Portugal and became a lawyer, the same profession as his father and grandfather. He was president of the Social Democratic Youth in Espinho from 1994 to 1996. He served on the city's council from 1997 to 2001, and ran for mayor in 2005, losing to José Mota of the Socialist Party (PS) by a 45% to 38% margin.

Assembly of the Republic
In 2002, 29-year-old Montenegro was elected to the Assembly of the Republic for Aveiro. He became the PSD parliamentary group's deputy leader to Miguel Macedo in 2010, and he received 86% of the votes to lead the group in June 2011, after PSD member Pedro Passos Coelho had been elected prime minister.

The early years of Montenegro's leadership coincided with the European troika intervention to deal with the financial crisis; he was criticised in January 2014 for saying "the life of the people is no better, but the life of the country is a lot better". He defended the implementation of a strict economic austerity programme negotiated by Portugal in exchange for an international financial bailout. He left parliament in February 2018 after Passos Coelho's resignation, warning that the PSD should not turn into new leader "Rui Rio's group of friends".

Leader of the PSD


In January 2020, Montenegro was a candidate in the PSD leadership election, challenging Rio. During the campaign, Rio attacked Montenegro for being a Freemason. In the run-off, Rio won with 53.2% of the votes.

Rio resigned following the PSD's poor performance in the 2022 Portuguese legislative election. Montenegro was the first person to put himself forward for the party leadership election, in which he ran against former minister Jorge Moreira da Silva. Montenegro won with 72.47% of the votes, beating his opponent in every district.

Under Montenegro’s leadership, the PSD reached an agreement in January 2024 with the CDS-PP for a pre-electoral alliance as they sought to bolster their chances of winning the national elections later that year. The Democratic Alliance took the most seats in the election with 80, two more than the PS. One of Montenegro's campaign promises was the full privatisation of TAP Air Portugal.

On 21 March 2024, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa formally issued Montenegro an invitation to form a government. Montenegro's new government was then presented to, and approved by, the president on 28 March.

Prime Minister of Portugal


Montenegro was sworn-in as Prime Minister of Portugal, heading the XXIV Constitutional Government, on 2 April 2024 at a ceremony in the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon. Prior to taking office, Montenegro vowed to govern with a minority government instead of forming a coalition with the ascendant right-wing populist party Chega, and decried their leader André Ventura as "often xenophobic, racist, populist and excessively demagogic".

In May 2024, the Portuguese government under Montenegro announced that the new Lisbon airport will be built in Alcochete and will be ready in 2034.

Days before the 2024 European Parliament election in Portugal, Montenegro announced a toughening of Portugal's immigration laws; the country had previously allowed those with a tourist visa to apply for residency. He said that the existing laws had led to "excessive abuse of our willingness to receive".

In 2024, he announced a reduction in corporate income tax from the current 21% to 15%. This measure would cost the public purse around 500 million euros a year.

Personal life
Montenegro was nicknamed Ervilha ("Pea") as a child for being small, round-figured and green-eyed, while his immediate family knew him by his middle name, Filipe. He took part in football and beach volleyball, and worked as a lifeguard as a youth, later taking up golf. In football, he supports FC Porto and S.C. Espinho, the teams of his birthplace and residence, respectively. As of May 2022, he is married and has two children.

A variety of sources dating from 2012, including SAPO's Polígrafo fact-checking website, Público, Expresso, Jornal de Negócios and Diário de Notícias maintain that in 2008, Montenegro was admitted into the Mozart Lodge, a Masonic lodge comprising politicians, businessmen and spies. In 2019, Montenegro denied being a Freemason.

Controversies
In 2023, an anonymous complaint was sent to the Portuguese Public Prosecution Service stating that Montenegro received tax benefits granted for the restoration of old buildings when he did a complete demolition of an old building and built a new one in its place, in Espinho. A criminal investigation was later opened.

Electoral history
PSD leadership election, 2020

! align="center" rowspan=2 colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 50px"|1st round ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 50px"|2nd round ! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px"|% ! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * bgcolor=orange|
 * align=left | Rui Rio
 * align=right | 15,546
 * align=right | 49.0
 * align=right | 17,157
 * align=right | 53.2
 * bgcolor=orange|
 * align=left | Luís Montenegro
 * align=right | 13,137
 * align=right | 41.4
 * align=right | 15,086
 * align=right | 46.8
 * bgcolor=orange|
 * align=left | Miguel Pinto Luz
 * align=right | 3,030
 * align=right | 9.6
 * colspan="2"|
 * colspan=2 align=left | Blank/Invalid ballots
 * align=right | 369
 * align=right | –
 * align=right | 341
 * align=right | –
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" |  Turnout
 * align=right | 32,082
 * align=right | 79.01
 * align=right | 32,582
 * align=right | 80.20
 * colspan="6" align=left|Source: Official results
 * }
 * align=right | 79.01
 * align=right | 32,582
 * align=right | 80.20
 * colspan="6" align=left|Source: Official results
 * }
 * }

PSD leadership election, 2022

! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px"|Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * bgcolor=orange|
 * align=left | Luís Montenegro
 * align=right | 19,241
 * align=right | 72.5
 * bgcolor=orange|
 * align=left | Jorge Moreira da Silva
 * align=right | 7,306
 * align=right | 27.5
 * colspan=2 align=left | Blank/Invalid ballots
 * align=right | 437
 * align=right | –
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
 * colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" |  Turnout
 * align=right | 26,984
 * align=right | 60.46
 * colspan="4" align=left|Source: Official results
 * }
 * align=right | 26,984
 * align=right | 60.46
 * colspan="4" align=left|Source: Official results
 * }
 * }