Portugal’s socialist prime minister, António Costa, has resigned hours after prosecutors examining alleged corruption involving lithium and “green” hydrogen deals announced that he was under investigation and police searched dozens of addresses, including his official residence and the environment and infrastructure ministries
His announcement came after the Portuguese press reported that at least five people had been detained, including Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, and Costa’s friend, the business consultant Diogo Lacerda Machado.
The public prosecutor’s office then revealed that Costa himself was being investigated, adding the prime minister’s “name and authority” had been cited by suspects questioned during the investigation.
Rebelo de Sousa confirmed that he had accepted Costa’s resignation and would be meeting party leaders on Wednesday. The president will then have to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call an election, or whether to allow Costa’s socialists, who have a majority in parliament, to form a new government.
socialist prime minister
That’s a bit of a stretch, he may be Socialist Party, but most of the policies of his government have been practically neoliberal.
Well you know how the old saying goes. A neolib by any other name would stink just as much.
Só tenho a dizer. Isto foi inesperado. Vamos a eleições outra vez?
(All I have to say is: this was unexpected. We’re going to elections again?)
Muito provavelmente.
Com o PS descredibilizado, se o PR não anuncia dissolução, ele próprio fica mal. O que preocupa é que há muita gente a “cair” à direita além do PSD.
Se se empossa um governo de direita, estamos muito mal parados. Idealmente, coligação.
O grande problema é que neste momento o PSD tem um líder extraordinariamente fraco. Estas eleições vão ser uma vitória do chega maioritariamente. Esperançosamente o PSD e a IL crescem mais depressa que o chega…
O PSD está morto na água. Não tem presença, nem postura, nem figura(s). Mas o IL não é opção, embora tenha algumas pessoas que fazem boas intervenções e reunem tempo de antena e muito menos o CH, que só atira ao ar é frases que ficam no ouvido mas na prática é um saco cheio de nada.
A direita portuguesa é essencialmente um retrocesso civilizacional para o país se ganhar mais representação e se a ganhar só demonstra que há muita gente que sofre de amnésia e ainda mais a sofrer de um falso saudosismo.
Idealmente, teremos dispersão de voto, que forçará coligações. A “geringonça” funcionou e aliviou a canga que trazíamos ás costas.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Portugal’s socialist prime minister, António Costa, has resigned hours after prosecutors examining alleged corruption involving lithium and “green” hydrogen deals announced that he was under investigation and police searched dozens of addresses, including his official residence and the environment and infrastructure ministries.
Speaking on Tuesday afternoon after two emergency meetings with Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Costa said he had submitted his resignation, adding he had a “clear conscience” and “complete trust in justice” and how it worked.
Costa, who won a third consecutive term as prime minister after his party secured a surprise absolute majority in a snap general election in January 2022, said he had stepped down despite having been “completely willing to dedicate myself with all my energy to fulfilling the mandate until the end of this legislature”.
It confirmed that the addresses searched “in order to identify and seize documents and others relevant evidence” had included “spaces used by the head of the prime minister’s office”, the two ministries and the Sines town council.
Citing flight risk and the possibility that illegal activity could continue, prosecutors said arrest warrants had been issued for Costa’s chief of staff, the mayor of Sines, and two executives at Start Campus.
Prosecutors also said that Portugal’s infrastructure minister, João Galamba, had been indicted as part of the investigation, as had the president of the executive board of the Portuguese Agency for the Protection of the Environment (APA).
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