Luís Montenegro, speaking in Caminha on the sidelines of the inauguration of the stabilisation works on the Moledo dam, an investment of €180,000, guaranteed that this path “is to continue,” despite “some taking advantage of these conjunctural episodes to try to shorten this path, saying that the country is worse off,” he maintained.

Questioned by journalists about the first year of government, Montenegro stated that he takes stock every day, emphasising that 2026 “has been a very intense year for Portugal’s projection from an economic and social point of view.”

We are very much marked today by a very atypical start to the year. First the storms, then the worsening of the conflict in the Middle East and its impact on the supply chain, first on fuels and then on other essential goods,” he highlighted.

Despite these situations, the head of the executive branch considered that “the country is better off.”

Income recovery

“Portugal is the OECD country where people have recovered the most income, have valued their work more, pay less tax today than they did two years ago and a year ago on their work income, and companies have more tools to innovate, to undertake,” he pointed out.

The Prime Minister stressed that the Government is “recovering public services, (…) that Portugal is one of the countries with the most affordable energy prices in Europe, (…), and that it will be “the third most competitive in this area.”

“We are in the top 3, therefore, a factor that a few years ago was, I won’t say prohibitive, but at least inhibiting greater investment, is now attractive.” We have human capital, we have a strong attachment to technologies, we have public policies that favor investment and work, lower taxes, greater simplification of procedures, as we are also seeing here now in this area of ​​public investment,” he added.

For Luís Montenegro, Portugal “is a country with reasons to aspire, to continue to put into concrete life for people what it can do collectively.”