The ceremony took place at the Palace of Belém and was attended by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, António Costa with the reshuffle being the fourth since March 30, 2022.

The reshuffle was carried out following the departure of Pedro Nuno Santos, who headed the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing and who resigned “in view of the public perception and collective feeling generated” around the TAP case and the compensation of €500,000 paid to Alexandra Reis, who is being investigated by the General Inspectorate of Finance and also by the Public Ministry. Following this the Prime Minister decided to change the structure of this ministry, dividing it into two: Infrastructure and Housing.

The highlight of the inauguration was João Galamba, who left the position of Secretary of State for Energy, taking over the Ministry of Infrastructure.

João Galamba chose Frederico Francisco as Secretary of State for Infrastructure. The 36-year-old aerospace engineer was responsible for coordinating and drawing up the National Railway Plan, as reported by Correio da Manhã.

Housing was entrusted to Marina Gonçalves, who chose Maria Fernanda da Silva Rodrigues, a civil engineer and assistant professor at the University of Aveiro, as her Secretary of State.

With the promotion of João Galamba to minister, Duarte Cordeiro chose Ana Fontoura Gouveia, an economist, and advisor to the prime minister’s office, to assume the post of Secretary of State for Energy and Climate at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action.

Hugo Alexandre Polido Pires, vice-president of the PS parliamentary group, will be the new Secretary of State for the Environment.

But the changes do not stop there. The Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, chose Pedro Nuno Pereira de Sousa Rodrigues, an economist and former deputy in the office of the Secretary of State for Internationalisation, to occupy the position of Secretary of State for the Treasury, following the resignation of Alexandra Reis.

Carla Maria Gonçalves Pereira is the new Secretary of State for Agriculture, replacing Secretary of State Rui Martinho who left for health reasons.

On leaving the inauguration, Pedro Nuno Santos said that it had been “seven good years” and that he was available to present all the clarifications” in the case of the compensation paid by TAP.


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