Portugal PM Costa resigns amid high-level corruption probe, snap election looms

10 months ago 35

Portuguese Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned on Tuesday (7 November) after it was announced he was being investigated for corruption related to mining and energy concessions, following raids in his official residence and two ministries, as well as several high-profile detentions.

The probe against Costa, who has been prime minister since November 2015, was first announced by the media and then confirmed by the attorney general’s office.

“During the course of the investigations, it emerged, moreover, that the suspects were aware of the name and authority of the prime minister and his intervention to unblock procedures. Such references will be independently analysed within the scope of an investigation opened at the Supreme Court of Justice, as that is the competent forum”, the attorney general’s statement reads.

Costa said President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had accepted his resignation.

“I want to say, eye to eye, to the Portuguese people that I am not guilty of any wrongdoing or even of any reprehensible act. As always, I have complete faith in justice and how it works. The justice system that I have served throughout my life and whose independence I have always defended” Costa said in an address to the press.

“However, it is my understanding that the dignity of the role of prime minister is not compatible with any suspicion of his integrity or good behaviour, and even less with the suspicion that he has committed any criminal act. Therefore, in these circumstances, I have obviously submitted my resignation to the president of the republic”.

Costa has been considered as one of the frontrunners to replace Charles Michel as president of the European Council following next June’s European elections. The position is usually awarded to an incumbent prime minister from one of the 27 member states.

Costa’s resignation may plunge Portugal into political uncertainty: President Rebelo de Sousa needs to decide if he will allow Costa’s socialists to form a new cabinet, or call a snap election. He is expected to communicate his decision after talking to all political parties this week.

Even though the Socialists currently hold a comfortable majority, recent polls put the opposition party PSD (EPP) only three points below the Socialists at 28.9%. Following closely is far-right Chega!, at 13.7%.

Police conducted around 40 searches on Tuesday, including the prime minister’s official residence, the São Bento Palace, and the Ministries of Infrastructure and Environment and Climate Action.

On top of the previous arrest of Costa’s chief of staff, the ministers for the environment, Duarte Cordeiro, and for infrastructures, João Galamba, as well as the former environment minister, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, will be treated as persons of interest in the investigations.

The corruption probe looks into lithium exploration concessions in the Montalegre and Boticas mines, as well as the concession for a project of a green hydrogen energy production plant in Sines.

The hydrogen plant is considered a project of common European interest, receiving EU funds.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]