Portugal cabinet to study conflict of interest allegations against PM

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LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro denied on Friday opposition allegations of a conflict of interest between his role and a consulting firm he founded, announcing the cabinet would hold an extraordinary meeting to assess the matter.

Speaking to reporters, Montenegro said that after Saturday’s cabinet session he would deliver a public address to “make an evaluation of all the personal and political context”.

He said a clarification was needed “so that the government can focus all its attention on serving the Portuguese”.

“As prime minister and in all public functions I’ve served, I never made any decisions that were in conflict of interest with any professional activities or private interests,” said Montenegro, who took office in April 2024.

He made no suggestion he would resign – something several opposition parties have called for in response to media reports about contracts between his family firm and private companies that they say appeared to benefit him. Several parties, including the far-right Chega, have also suggested Montenegro submit to a confidence motion in parliament.

Later, he told a news conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Porto that he would attend next week’s European Council meeting as prime minister.

Montenegro has told parliament that he founded the company, Spinumviva, in 2021 when he held no political job. The company sought to provide consulting services in the area of data protection, in which he specialised as a lawyer, he said.

The following year, he was elected leader of the centre-right Social Democratic Party and left the management and ownership of the company, whose annual revenue peaked at 415,000 euros ($431,558) in 2022, to his wife and sons. He also sold the stake he had in lawyers office Sousa Pinheiro & Montenegro (SP&M) at the same time.

($1 = 0.9616 euros)

(Reporting by Andrei Khalip, Editing by William Maclean)