Among the main new measures, the most important are the reform of the State, which was given an independent ministry in the 25th PSD/CDS-PP Government, the intention to change labour legislation, including the strike law, to review the Basic Health Law and to bring forward the commitment to invest 2% of GDP in Defense this year.

Greater control over immigration is another of the main lines of the program of the second executive headed by Luís Montenegro, which includes a new chapter in relation to the document presented before the campaign: a Transformative Agenda, which assumes the ten priority axes of government action.

These priorities are, according to the executive: “an income policy that values ​​work”; “a profound reform of the State and a declared war on bureaucracy”; “the creation of wealth based on economic growth”; “a regulated and humanistic immigration policy”; “essential services accessible to all, with quality and complementarity between the public, private and social sectors”; “security closer to the population”; “faster justice and a firm fight against corruption”; “a determined response to the housing crisis with national mobilization; “the launch of new infrastructures”; the implementation of the “Água que Une” project and a strategic plan to strengthen investment in defense.

Here are, by area, some of the main commitments expressed in the Government program:

Labour

The government assumes the objective of “balancing more appropriately” the right to strike “with the satisfaction of essential social needs” and of reviewing labour legislation, “ideally in the context of the Social Concertation”.

It is also intended to review the system of allocation and monitoring of the social integration income (RSI) – which may have as a counterpart “solidarity obligations” – and to create a benefit to encourage work.

The objective of this benefit, which would replace “a broad set of social supports”, will allow "the accumulation of income from work with social support", with a view to encouraging "active participation in the job market".

The Government also intends to provide greater flexibility in the enjoyment of vacations at the worker's initiative, with the possibility of acquiring vacation days, with a limit to be defined contractually between the parties and that workers will once again be able to choose whether they want to receive vacation and Christmas bonuses in twelfths or in the traditional way.

The executive also wants to reinforce the possibility of transition, "even if temporary", between weekly work schedules, "with a possible percentage adjustment of the remuneration", and the possibility of teleworking by agreement between the parties.

The Government is also considering creating a shared parental leave with an alternative caregiver to the parents, especially for single-parent families.

Immigration

The executive wants to review the nationality law and extend the deadlines for obtaining Portuguese citizenship, extending the minimum period of residence and effective presence in national territory (currently five years) and eliminating the possibility of illegal stay being considered for counting purposes.

In the program, the government is committed to reviewing the law on foreigners and the law on asylum, “limiting migratory flows, particularly for family reunification, to the capacity of public services and the integration of Portuguese society”. It also intends to restrict visas for job seekers to highly qualified candidates and consider introducing criteria for progress in the Portuguese language when renewing certain types of residence permits. The government also wants to “review the process for issuing residence certificates by parish councils” and “create and implement the Bom Regresso Programme”, to support all people who want to return to their country of origin but are unable to do so by their own means, as well as to move forward with the creation of a National Unit for Foreigners and Borders of the PSP, which was rejected in the previous legislature.

Salaries and pensions

The government has set the goal of increasing the minimum wage (currently 870 euros) to 1,100 euros by 2029, the average salary to be around 2,000 euros by the end of the legislative term and no pensioner to have an income below 870 euros by that time, which will involve the continued appreciation of pensions and increases in the Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly.

Taxes

The government plans to reduce IRS up to the 8th bracket, worth 2 billion euros by 2029, with a reduction of 500 million in 2025 (in addition to what was foreseen in the State Budget for 2025).

In IRC, the program foresees a gradual reduction of up to 17% by the end of the legislative term, with a reduction of up to 15% in the case of SMEs in the first 50 thousand euros of taxable profit.

The continuity of measures aimed at retaining young people is guaranteed, such as “structurally and lastingly reducing the IRS Jovem” and maintaining the exemption from IMT, Stamp Duty and public guarantee on the purchase of the first home for those up to 35 years old.

In this government program, the estimates for the fiscal scenario have not been updated, but the executive reiterates, in the chapter dedicated to the Treasury, that “fiscal balance and the reduction of public debt are fundamental conditions for sustainable economic and social development”.

Health

The Government wants to review the Basic Health Law – in force since 2019 – and approve a new Law on Resources for the SNS, claiming that these legislative changes are essential to guarantee the sustainability of the Portuguese health system.

The executive will also create regional emergency units composed of teams shared between hospitals, giving priority to the “most critical specialties” in terms of human resources, such as obstetrics and paediatrics.

Also in the area of ​​hospital care, a new National System for Access to Consultations and Surgeries (SINACC) is planned, which will also include timely access to complementary diagnostic methods, replacing the current Integrated System for Managing Surgery Subscribers (SIGIC).

Another measure provided for in the Government Program is the restructuring of “SUS management, through its reorganization based on Local Health Systems with the participation of public, private and social entities”.

In this new term, the government also intends to launch new public-private partnerships (PPP) for health units that “meet criteria to ensure a better care response” in a private management model for public services in the SUS.

Education

The government intends to ban smartphones in schools in the 1st and 2nd cycles and limit their use among students in the 3rd cycle, making the recommendations made at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year a rule.

Creating a study support service for underprivileged or at-risk students and building, in dialogue with principals and teachers, “a new model of school autonomy and management” are other objectives, in a program that also includes a commitment to “revisit and update association contract models”.

The philosophy, whether in health or education, involves “transitioning to a paradigm in which public schools and public hospitals have the same management and budgetary autonomy as hospitals under a PPP regime or schools under an association contract regime” and towards a “convergence towards the lack of distinction between public and private provision”.

Housing

The goal is to build 59,000 affordable homes and provide financing for more projects, including public-private partnerships in vacant state properties with housing potential.

The government is moving towards the creation of “an exceptional and temporary regime that will accelerate construction and renovation through private or cooperative provision” and is committed to substantially reducing taxes and applying VAT at a minimum rate of 6% to construction and renovation works and services, as well as simplifying urban licensing.

The government also proposes reviewing the urban leasing regime and unifying it into a single system model of the various public support systems for existing rents, also committing to the introduction of secure long-term rental contracts.

Justice and corruption

The Government will create a working group, made up of academics, judges and lawyers, to increase the speed of legal proceedings and eliminate mega-lawsuits.

It also proposes, without providing details, to change the rules for access to the Superior Court of Justice to ensure “the rejuvenation of the body of judges, in order to eliminate the imminent risk of a shortage of judges in the STJ”.

Reviewing the “conditional release and successive execution of sentences regime, as well as the mechanisms for making sentences more flexible” and reinforcing the level of security in prisons with signal inhibitors to prevent the illegal use of cell phones and drones inside the prisons are other measures.

In the area of ​​corruption, the Government is committed to implementing measures from the Anti-Corruption Agenda, approved in the previous legislature, such as regulating lobbying and recording the Government's legislative “footprint”.

State Reform

The government wants a “net reduction” of the entities of the direct administration of the State, which will involve a reorganization that includes the elimination of sectoral general secretariats, duplicated structures and the merger of entities.

On the other hand, it will move forward with the global evaluation of State workers to anticipate needs and identify “redundancies”, with the aim of promoting the redistribution of employees.

The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, has already guaranteed that the State reform will not involve dismissals of civil servants or salary cuts.

In the program, the government also commits to “completing the review of public administration careers” and evolving towards a simple evaluation system, “with greater weight given to performance as a criterion for progression in opposition to the seniority criterion”.

The “governance regime of the State business sector will also be reviewed, reinforcing its transparency and qualification, and divesting non-strategic holdings” and a “process of gradual relocation of several central services of the State central administration to other regions of the national territory outside the capital” will be launched.

Among the measures foreseen in the State reform is also “a global exercise of reviewing public spending” in the main ministries, which involves sharing the savings generated with entities, services and workers.

Security

The focus is on “strengthening visible, proximity and community policing as a way of reinforcing public tranquillity”, through the reorganization of the distribution of PSP police officers and GNR officers, partnerships with local authorities, and the review of the legal framework of municipal police forces.

In this legislature, the executive also wants to reduce “the crime rate, particularly violent and serious crime” and strengthen the fight against juvenile and group crime, domestic violence, the creation and sharing of digital content that is harmful to the development of children and young people, road accidents, cybercrime and disinformation.

In the program, the executive commits to a strategic plan to combat drug trafficking and consumption and to review the legislation associated with this crime.

Defense

The goal of reaching 2% of the Gross Domestic Product in Defense investment this year – which was set for 2029 – with one fifth of that amount earmarked for goods, infrastructure and equipment, is being brought forward, with one fifth of that amount earmarked for goods, infrastructure and equipment.

Without going into detail, this strategic reinforcement plan includes among its main measures the “stimulation of investments capable of dual use, military and civilian”, but leaves two conditions for achieving this goal.

“Maintaining the national model of the Social State and creating a favorable environment for the national security and defense industry, which is capable of having a multiplier effect on public investment due to its internal absorption capacity of expenses incurred in this area”, the document reads.

The creation of public-private partnerships in strategic areas for National Defense – citing the OGMA model – is another of the measures recommended within the scope of support for Defense industries.