Cabinet of Belmonte

Cabinet of Belmonte Gabinete de Belmonte (Iustian)
50th Cabinet of Belmonte
Incumbent
Coat of arms of Belmonte
Date formed	15 April 2015
People
Head of state	Caetano Villa-Lobos
Head of government	Rita Maurino
Deputy head of government	Graça Fonseca
No. of ministers	19
Member party	Social Democratic Party Socialist Bloc
Status in legislature	Majority
Opposition cabinet	Shadow Cabinet
Opposition party	National Conservative Union
Opposition leader	João Sócrates
History
Election(s)	2015
Predecessor	Second Rosa Cabinet

The Cabinet of Belmonte (Iustian: Gabinete de Belmonte), officially the Council of Ministers of the United Republic of Belmonte (Iustian: Conselho de Ministros da República Unida de Belmonte), is the collective decision-making body of the Government of Belmonte, being presided by the prime minister while has as its members the secretaries of State of the republic. According to the constitution, their responsibilities include discussing future government projects and plans as well as make joint decisions regarding several different political and economic fields over the course of their mandate.

Since April 15th 2015, the president of the cabinet is Rita Maurino, who maintains a coalition between the Social Democratic Party, the Socialist Bloc and some independent politicians as well.

Cabinet meetings

The cabinet meet every week in the Mondays at 7 am to deal with every governmental project planned to be introduced over the course of the following days such as drafts and decrees that need to be approved in the congress or the resolution and management of problems within the public administration and bureaucracy. Traditionally, these meetings happen in the official residence and workplace of the prime minister, the Bensafrim House, however, in some occasions, the meetings could happen in the Aranha Building, where it is located the majority of ministries and secretaries of Belmonte. In emergency situations, it’s possible that the cabinet meets in extraordinary sessions or together with other advisory institutions, such as the State Council or the National Defence Council, which happened during the Great War, the 1963 terrorist attacks, the protests of 1969 and 1979 among with many other events.

Parliamentary accountability

Despite the legislation is pretty clear towards the fact that the prime minister must be a member of the Chamber of Deputies, it doesn’t restrict senators or even non-parliamentarians to become cabinet members. Although the majority of the prime ministers followed the tradition of making at least most of its cabinet composed by deputies, the number of non-parliamentarians present in it grew over the last years, especially on secretaries that deal with more technical issues. Anyway, all secretaries have their own designated seats in parliament regardless of being members of such or not.

The prime minister and its cabinet is heavily dependent on parliamentary accountability for the sake of their government programs be approved. Also, the congress could at any time convoke one cabinet member to be accounted in parliamentary committees, and the deputies could, with a simple majority, dismiss them from their office through a motion of non-confidence.

Cabinet

Current cabinet

Main articles: Rita Maurino and Goverment of Belmonte

Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office	Party
Prime Minister
Prime Minister		Rita Maurino	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Ministers
Deputy Prime Minister Secretary of Foreign Affairs		Graça Fonseca	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Socialist Bloc
Secretary of Finances and the Treasury		Patrício Buarque	23 July 2017	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Justice and Public Security		Sérgio Guerra	19 July 2017	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Defence		Henrique Menzi	08 August 2017	Incumbent	Independent
Secretary of Education		Catarina Barbalho	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Health		Ricardo Tavares	03 April 2016	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Science and Technology		Suzana Bittencourt	27 May 2017	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Sports		Lúcia Machado	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Socialist Bloc
Secretary of Culture		Bruno Costa	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Socialist Bloc
Secretary of Environmental Affairs and Agriculture		Amélia de Castro	23 May 2019	Incumbent	Socialist Bloc
Secretary of Citizenship, Women and Human Rights		Maria Santana	04 August 2018	Incumbent	Socialist Bloc
Secretary of Pensions and Social Care		Antônio Mendes	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Labour		Zacarias Cruz	23 March 2019	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Tourism		João Borges	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Infrastructure and Energy		Lourenço Pontes	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Social Democratic Party
Secretary of Waters and Ports		Tasso Cardoso	15 April 2015	Incumbent	Independent

Shadow cabinet

Main article: Shadow Cabinet of Belmonte

See also

Government of Belmonte Prime Minister of Belmonte

Politics of Belmonte National Congress of Belmonte