A few months ago, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa had dinner in Lisbon, flanked by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and former President of the Spanish government Felipe González. They celebrated half a century of the Socialist Party, founded in exile by Mário Soares and a hundred dissidents of the dictatorship. Costa was a reference for the international left at the time, being compared to “a beacon of hope” at a rally in Porto by Stefan Löfven, president of the European Socialist Party, and described by Pedro Sánchez, president of the Socialist International, as “a bastion “defined.” in the middle of “a neoliberal decade in Europe.” With his resignation as prime minister, the left has lost one of its most secure values. He was the only socialist to rule with an absolute majority in Europe, apart from Labour’s Robert Abela in Malta.
The Portuguese are still stunned by Costa’s resignation and the abrupt end to a political era built over eight years with a smile and an iron fist. The only way out for the socialist leader that was considered in Portugal was related to holding municipal office. In Brussels – where he was greeted with suspicion when he came to power in 2015 from two parties more left-wing than his own (the Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party), he had built an image that was rejected by both because of his Ability to dialogue was respected in international politics as well as for his efforts to reduce national debt and domestic deficits. His name was in the pool for the presidency of the European Council. The only exit planned for the Prime Minister was through the front door.
Antonio Costa, yesterday, after announcing his resignation as Prime Minister. PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA (AFP)
No one in their right mind in Portugal would have expected, when they woke up to go to work on Tuesday, that after lunch they would be thinking about who would succeed Costa in the country’s government. But the announcement that the Supreme Court would investigate him over his role in approving energy projects involving the use of green hydrogen and lithium led to his resignation. “When I look into the eyes of the Portuguese, I want to say that carrying out an illegal act, even a reprehensible act, does not burden my conscience,” he said as he announced his departure.
Medina, the dolphin prized by Costa
Constitutional power leaves the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the decision to bring forward elections or proceed with the legislature, allowing the appointment of a socialist deputy. The current government members include Fernando Medina, Finance Minister and one of Costa’s most valued Dolphins, who is ranked highest. Medina has the approval of its management in charge of public finances, which will end this year with a surplus.
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Fernando Medina, Portuguese Finance Minister, during the budget presentation in Lisbon on October 10.JOSE SENA GOULAO (EFE)
The unexpected political crisis also coincided with the processing of the general state budget project, which envisages a historic fact for 2024: the national debt will be below 100% for the first time (expected 98.9%). Club of the most indebted in Europe. Medina has well implemented the Contas Certas (correct accounting) policy that Costa has made the backbone of his mandates. If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed in his eight years in office (and only two with an absolute majority), it’s his obsession with keeping spending under control and preventing the country from suffering another traumatic bailout like 2011.
Containment of spending has prevented major expansions of reform or investment until the manna of European Next Generation funds arrived. Much of that money was tied to energy projects aimed at decarbonizing European economies. Costa has embraced the cause so much that his most important political legacy will be the green revolution. According to Eurostat data, Portugal is the fourth country in Europe with the highest production of renewable energy, behind only Austria, Sweden and Denmark.
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In this race for emissions neutrality, scheduled in the country for 2045, environmental requirements have been simplified to allow companies to develop their projects faster. And licenses have been granted for very controversial projects such as the lithium mine in Covas do Barroso, despite being a site of exceptional environmental, agricultural and community value recognized by the FAO as a World Agricultural Heritage Site. This is one of the prosecutor’s suspect projects, along with lithium extraction in Montalegre and a green hydrogen project in Sines.
For this operation, which began in 2019, two people close to the socialist leader, his chief of staff Vítor Escária and his friend and businessman Diogo Lacerda Machado, as well as three other people were arrested. In addition, the most controversial infrastructure minister, João Galamba, who has caused the most trouble for Costa’s cabinet, has been declared an arguido (official suspect). It was precisely the scandals that surrounded his management this year that led to a break in the warm relationship that Rebelo de Sousa and Costa had always maintained. Contrary to the opinion of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister insisted on keeping Galamba, despite the maddening events in his ministry, which included intimidation, fights, the theft of a laptop and the intervention of the secret services.
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