Europe
Portugal’s New Premier Picks Sarmento as Finance Minister
- Sarmento is a finance professor and parliamentary leader
- Center-right AD coalition narrowly won the March 10 election
Portugal’s incoming prime minister picked Joaquim Miranda Sarmento as finance minister, putting him in charge of fiscal policy for a government without a majority that can ensure approval of budgets.
Miranda Sarmento, 45, is a finance professor in Lisbon and parliamentary leader of the PSD party who helped draft the center-right coalition’s electoral proposals. These included tax cuts for businesses and workers, which now need to be translated into an official budget for next year and approved by a fragmented parliament.