At a time when Portugal is facing structural challenges in terms of internal security, increasingly frequent extreme weather phenomena and a growing erosion of institutional trust, the new Minister of Internal Administration will have to embody a true national purpose: guaranteeing the security of citizens and the resilience of the territory with a modern, integrated and courageous vision.
At the time of writing this text, the name of the next holder of the Internal Administration portfolio is not yet known. Prognoses have advanced that the prime minister is seeking an operational and political profile. It is understood that this could be someone who combines knowledge of the functioning of security and civil protection structures with the ability to negotiate and read the political moment.
An operational profile presupposes someone who understands from the inside what it means to coordinate police, respond to a crisis, deal with the civil protection system or act in catastrophe scenarios. This is someone with technical authority, experience and prestige in the sector – this characteristic is essential – so that they can make informed decisions that are respected by managers and professionals in the field.
The political dimension requires a minister capable of moving quickly in a context of parliamentary demands, interministerial dialogue and communication with the country. A head of Internal Administration needs to know how to respond to the Assembly of the Republic, negotiate budgets, build consensus and resist media pressure — especially in moments of high tension, such as a wave of fires, street protests or situations of public violence.
Being Minister of Internal Administration today means accepting a demanding and transversal mandate. To accept it, anyone who is aware of the size and impact of this position on all of our lives must have carte blanche and the budget to reform, restructure, reorganize, without submitting to corporate interests.
It means leading a complex and, at times, fragmented system, which involves security forces with different cultures, civil protection structures with asymmetric resources and a territory increasingly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. The challenge is one of leadership, but also of strategy, management and communication.
Therefore, the challenge facing the Prime Minister is not just to choose someone “competent” or “strong”. It is about finding a name that brings together this rare symbiosis: operational firmness and political legitimacy; technical authority and institutional sense; command experience and reform vision.
Several diagnoses have already been made by experts and academics on how to make the internal security model more effective. In his Government, Pedro Passos Coelho spoke about eliminating duplications and promoting specialization in the GNR and PSP. It looks basic. But the truth is that when a distribution of certain skills and competencies is suggested that would put an end to the obsolete concept of the “integral police” (how is it that with the lack of resources that exists, one can aspire to do everything?) corporate reactions arise. Those in uniforms that are not of national interest.
It is time to clearly redefine its missions, reinforcing, for example, the GNR as a nationwide force specialized in large-scale operations, traffic, protection of critical infrastructures, coordination with the Armed Forces in Civil Protection, and a more muscular rapid response. The PSP could consolidate itself as an urban security force, focusing on prevention, proximity, investigation and public order intervention in densely populated environments.
The new minister will have to promote a functionality pact between these forces, clarifying boundaries of action, specializing units and discontinuing duplicate structures such as those existing in special operations, criminal investigation or kinesthetic units.
Valuing human resources is equally crucial. Without attractive careers, decent salaries and progression prospects, it will be impossible to attract and retain talent for the security forces. The minister must place this issue at the center of negotiations with the Government,
In terms of migration, the European Union’s external borders and transnational crime require a prepared and strategically articulated State. The way in which the extinction of the SEF was handled generated institutional insecurity, weakened the State’s image and created operational coordination problems that persist. It would be important to rethink the decision. It has never been a sign of weakness to correct mistakes. This does not mean the return of the SEF, but it is more than evident that the documentary and security aspects could not have been separated in the way they were.
And at the end of more than two weeks in which the country has seen and felt how vulnerable it is to extreme weather events, it will also be clear that Portugal has a specialized capacity to face the growing impacts of climate change. Fires, storms, floods and landslides are no longer exceptions: they are recurring threats.
Being the responsibility of Civil Protection, it makes perfect sense for MAI to promote this path. It can even follow, without prejudice, the suggestion given by Gouveia e Melo, of creating a kind of fourth Branches of the Armed Forces, a national, professionalized and technologically equipped body, dedicated to surveillance, prevention and response to natural disasters.
This body must integrate competencies currently dispersed between the GNR, ICNF, Civil Protection and the Armed Forces, guaranteeing a single command, specialization, own doctrine and autonomous training. With a clear operational ethos and aligned with the best international models (such as the UME in Spain), this body could be an anchor of national resilience.
Luís Montenegro may have a unique opportunity to change the paradigm here. Think about the national security system in 10 years, not just until the next electoral cycle. This is a mission of pure public service, which demands moral integrity, technical competence and calm authority.
With better organized police forces, with truly effective Civil Protection, perhaps, at the end of history, the arguments for the growth of populism will be disarmed in the face of citizens’ trust. Not through ideological appeals, but through concrete responses. Wearing the uniform of Portugal, in this mission, means protecting, reforming, anticipating and serving with courage.
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