LISBON, Nov 7 (Portal) – Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned on Tuesday amid an investigation into alleged irregularities by his majority Socialist government in the handling of lithium mining and hydrogen projects in the country.
Costa announced the decision in a televised statement after a meeting with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. He said his conscience was clear but he would not run for prime minister again.
File Photo: Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa speaks at a news conference during the Portugal-Brazil Summit at the Belem Cultural Center in Lisbon, Portugal, April 22, 2023. Portal/Rodrigo Antunes/File Photo ACKNOWLEDGE RIGHTS
Earlier on Tuesday, prosecutors named Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba as a formal suspect and arrested Costa’s chief of staff. The opposition called for the government to resign immediately.
Costa was “fully available to cooperate” with the justice system after prosecutors said he was also the target of an investigation.
“The dignity of the office of prime minister is incompatible with any suspicion of his integrity, his good behavior and even less with the suspicion of having committed a crime,” Costa told reporters.
Reporting by Catarina Demony, Andrei Khalip, Sergio Goncalves and Patricia Rua, editing by Andrei Khalip
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