Portugal's political parties remain the decisive force behind ministerial appointments, but they are increasingly choosing qualified, technical profiles rather than purely political ones, according to a study released on Monday by the Fundacao Francisco Manuel dos Santos.
The study, titled "Quem Governa Portugal? Perfis ministeriais em perspetiva comparada" ("Who Governs Portugal? Ministerial Profiles in Comparative Perspective"), was coordinated by researchers Antonio Costa Pinto and Marcelo Camerlo. It examined the profiles of every Portuguese minister from 1976 to 2025 and compared Portugal with other southern European democracies, including Spain, Italy and Greece.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, political scientist Antonio Costa Pinto said the tendency of governments to recruit ministers from civil society has become firmly established in Portugal. He said the most recent shift the study captured was that ministers coming from the parties themselves now also tend to have profiles better suited to the portfolios they take on.
In other words, ministers generally hold more relevant qualifications for their briefs, whether they come from civil society or from within party ranks. The study stressed that this rise in technical profiles has not come at the expense of political ones. It noted that despite growing pressure toward specialisation, parties continue to dominate ministerial nominations in Portugal.
Four types of ministers
The study describes what it calls the "party brotherhood" as continuing to structure ministerial recruitment, not as a rigid inheritance but as an adaptive framework through which Portuguese governments incorporate specialisation without giving up political control. The authors argue this gives nuance to broader theories about the technocratisation of European governments, showing that technical competence can be built into party-based government rather than working against it.
The researchers sorted Portuguese ministers from 1976 to 2025 into four categories: "external", "expert", "political-specialist" and "political". Portuguese democracy stands out, the authors said, for the dominance of the hybrid "political-specialist" profile and for the fact that non-party ministers are often "semi-independent", meaning they have no formal party membership but recognisable ties to a party. The study concluded that partisanship remains structural, integrating in a balanced way with technical competence that is absorbed into party structures and the selection of the ministerial elite rather than opposing them.
EU accession drove specialisation
Costa Pinto said one of the drivers that pushed governments toward greater specialisation was Portugal's accession to the European Union in 1986.
He said rising qualifications can have positive effects on policymaking, but cautioned that decisions always depend on political institutions such as parliament and the nature of the government, whether majority or minority. As an example, he said a labour minister might be a committed believer in reforming the labour system as a professor of labour law, but it is parliament and the social partners that ultimately decide.
Career length and key portfolios
Costa Pinto also said political ministers tend to have shorter political careers on average, either because they move on to other posts or because of party conflicts, while independent or semi-independent ministers tend to stay in office longer.
On the distribution of portfolios, party loyalty again emerged as a determining factor. Parties appear more willing to cede some control over certain areas, but not over central matters such as Foreign Affairs, which the study said involves high-risk decisions where political trust and loyalty are indispensable. By contrast, portfolios such as Energy, Environment or Transport tend to draw more experts. Finance, Costa Pinto said, is generally a ministry that combines both political and technical trust.
Differences between PS and PSD
The study also found differences between Portugal's two main parties. Looking at the composition of every constitutional government since 1976, the Socialist Party (PS) tended to include more specialists in its cabinets, while the Social Democratic Party (PSD) showed a greater tendency to rely on experienced political cadres.
Another finding was that ministerial careers in Portugal are relatively short, below the averages recorded in some other European countries, with a Portuguese minister staying in office for an average of about 600 days.
