According to Sapo, Luís Montenegro was speaking at the end of a meeting in which a document entitled “First Phase of Public Administration Reform” was presented.

“In terms of financial savings, our estimate is that it could mean savings of 23 million euros per year in the top structure of our Public Administration alone. From a physical point of view, it will free up 27 State buildings to serve other purposes”, he stated, sending news about the fate of these buildings soon.

The Prime Minister said that the Government approved today “some of the legislative instruments that embody the principle of State reform”.

“It was work that included the participation of all Ministries, but it is the first step towards the modernisation of our public administration and that starts with ourselves, with the organisation of the Government and its services”, he stated.

Transfer of the executive

The Minister of the Presidency also announced that, from Monday, "practically half" of the Government will start working in a common building, Campus XXI, which also houses the headquarters of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, in Lisbon.

“In the next two years, we expect that other Ministries and 70 Public Administration entities will be concentrated in the same building. Together, coordinated and working more closely”, said António Leitão Amaro, at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting.

From 1st July, six ministers and their respective secretaries of State will move to the headquarters building of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), next to Campo Pequeno (in Lisbon): Deputy Minister and of Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, Minister of Economy, Pedro Reis, Minister of Agriculture, José Manuel Fernandes, and the Minister of Youth and Modernisation, Margarida Balseiro Lopes.

In addition to these six ministers, the two Secretaries of State for Parliamentary Affairs will now transfer to CGD, with the minister for that portfolio, Pedro Duarte, remaining in the Assembly of the Republic.

In other words, in total, 23 members of the Government will be concentrated in the same building, almost 39% of the total executive, made up of 59 members (Prime Minister, 17 ministers, and 41 secretaries of state).