2023-11-07 14:48:50
Spattered by a corruption scandal, the Portuguese Prime Minister presented his resignation to the head of state. Which the latter accepted.
Shattered by a corruption affair which led to the indictment of one of his ministers and his chief of staff, the Portuguese Prime Minister, the socialist Antonio Costa, presented his resignation this Tuesday afternoon. “The functions of Prime Minister are not compatible with any suspicion of my integrity. In these circumstances, I presented my resignation to the President of the Republic,” he declared to the press. The conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa accepted this resignation shortly after.
After the presentation of this resignation, the president summoned the parties represented in Parliament on Wednesday with a view to the organization of an early voteaccording to a press release issued by the Portuguese presidency.
Embezzlement, corruption and influence peddling
The case involving the Portuguese Prime Minister, one of the rare socialists at the head of a European government, concerns, according to the prosecution, suspicions of “embezzlement, active and passive corruption of holders of political functions and trafficking in influence” in the context of the awarding of licenses for lithium exploration and hydrogen production. During the investigation, “the name and authority of the Prime Minister were also cited by the suspects,” the public prosecutor said in a statement.
Suspected of having himself intervened “to unblock procedures” in the context of this affair, Antonio Costa will be “the subject of an independent investigation”, again according to the prosecution. During his speech to the press, Mr. Costa said he “surprised” by the opening of this investigation.
Searches at his official residence
The investigators are more specifically interested in the granting of licenses for “lithium mine exploration” in the north of Portugal, in “a project for the production of energy from hydrogen” and in “a project for the construction of ‘a data center from the company Start Campus’ in Sines, about a hundred kilometers south of Lisbon. This Tuesday morningsearches were carried out in the official residence of the Prime Ministerin several homes, in ministries and law firms.
Justice has issued “arrest warrants” against Antonio Costa’s chief of staff, the mayor of Sines and two administrators of Start Campus.
Taking into account the elements collected by the investigators, the “risk of flight and continuation of criminal activity”, justice issued “arrest warrants” against Mr. Costa’s chief of staff, the mayor of Sines and two Start Campus administrators. The Portuguese Minister of Infrastructure Joao Galamba was indicted for his partas is the president of the board of directors of the Portuguese Agency for Environmental Protection (APA).
Repeated scandals
The APA announced at the beginning of September that it had granted the green light, under certain conditions, to a second project in the country for the mining of lithium, a metal used for the manufacture of batteries and essential to the energy transition. Portugal, which holds the first lithium reserves in Europe, is already the main producer, but for the moment its production is entirely used for ceramics and glassware. A first lithium mine project also obtained, under conditions, authorization from the APA last May.
After his large electoral victory on January 30, 2022, Antonio Costa saw his popularity plummet due to several scandals.
These mining projects are contested by environmental NGOs and part of the local population of this rural region. After his large electoral victory on January 30, 2022, which gave him an absolute majority supposed to guarantee the stability of his government, Mr. Costa saw his popularity plummeting due to repeated scandals.
One of the most notable is the “TAPgate”, named after the public airline. More than a dozen ministers and secretaries of state have already left their posts because of this affair. This scandal broke out almost a year ago following revelations about the payment of severance pay of 500,000 euros to a TAP administrator. She then took control of the air traffic control company and landed a few months later as Secretary of State for the Treasury.
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