Former PM Passos Coelho Wants to Return to Power, Says Ex-PSD Leader Negrão — Party Elections Set for May

Former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho wants to return to the leadership of Portugal and has "a project for the country," according to Fernando Negrão, the former PSD parliamentary leader and ex-Justice Minister, speaking on Rádio Renascença's weekly political programme São Bento à Sexta.

The remarks, broadcast on Friday, are the most explicit public acknowledgement yet from a senior PSD figure that Passos Coelho — who governed Portugal through the austerity years from 2011 to 2015 — is actively considering a political comeback, even as current Prime Minister Luís Montenegro prepares to run unopposed for re-election as PSD leader.

'He Has a Project for the Country'

"My hunch is that Pedro Passos Coelho wants to return to being Prime Minister of Portugal. I know he has a project for the country, and there are many people who would follow him," Negrão told the programme.

The former director of the Polícia Judiciária added a crucial caveat: Passos Coelho would only move if he sees an opening. "If this government begins to make the important reforms the country needs, he will not advance," Negrão argued, framing the potential comeback as contingent on Montenegro's willingness to pursue structural change.

Negrão noted that Passos Coelho "has been speaking much more" in recent months, with interventions that have been "direct" and reveal clear "divergences with the current governance" of Montenegro.

PSD Internal Elections Loom

The comments land in a politically charged week. The PSD has scheduled its internal leadership elections for May 30, with a party congress to follow in June. Despite Negrão's suggestion that the party "would benefit from having more candidates," he acknowledged that Montenegro will almost certainly run unopposed.

"This is not an intellectual exercise — it is what it is. Political parties are what they are, and we are going to have just one candidate," Negrão conceded.

Yet the subtext is clear: if Montenegro fails to deliver on reforms, the ground could shift before the next general election. Passos Coelho, who retains significant support within the PSD's base and among centre-right voters who remember his government's role in pulling Portugal out of the troika bailout programme, would be the most formidable challenger.

Negrão Criticises Internal 'Purge'

While giving a broadly positive assessment of Montenegro's leadership — crediting him with pacifying the party — Negrão was sharply critical of how that peace was achieved.

"I have a positive opinion because he pacified the PSD, but I disagree with the way political parties are internally pacified — and it's not just the PSD. He carried out a clean-up of those who did not agree with him, and was left only with the loyalists around him to govern the country," Negrão said.

The critique echoes a broader concern within centre-right circles that Montenegro's PSD has become a narrower, more centralised party than the broad-church movement it traditionally aspired to be.

Context: A Government Without a Majority

Montenegro's PSD/CDS coalition governs without a parliamentary majority, relying on issue-by-issue negotiations with opposition parties. This week alone saw the unanimous approval of an emergency fuel tax cut (ISP), but also the blocking of broader VAT reductions on fuel proposed by opposition parties Bloco de Esquerda, Chega, and Iniciativa Liberal.

Passos Coelho himself has previously said the government has "all the conditions" to advance with reforms even without a majority — a statement that can be read both as encouragement and as a challenge.

Whether the former PM's ambitions translate into a formal move before the next election cycle remains uncertain. But with Negrão's public remarks, the question is no longer whether Passos Coelho is thinking about it — but when.

Sources: Rádio Renascença (São Bento à Sexta), RTP