The main international news agencies and some of the most important newspapers in the world today reported the resignation of Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, while several media outlets reported on the searches carried out even in the morning.
Citing agencies such as AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, Efe or AFP, the news of the dismissal was highlighted on the online pages of the North American Politico, Washington Post, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times or New York Times of the British The Guardian. , Times or BBC, from the French Le Monde, Le Liberation or le Fígaro, from the Spanish ABC or El Pais, or from Bild (Germany), Corriere della Sera (Italy), La Nacion (Argentina) or La Libre (Belgium) .
“Stained by a corruption scandal that led to the indictment of one of his ministers and his chief of staff, the Portuguese Prime Minister, the socialist António Costa, announced his resignation”writes AFP, a tone echoed by several media, especially French.
The Spanish Efe wrote that Costa resigned “due to the investigation against him for possible malfeasance, active and passive corruption and influence peddling in the lithium and hydrogen sectors, although he guaranteed that he had not committed any irregularities”.
‘Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa has resigned as part of an investigation into possible corruption crimes related to lithium and hydrogen projects’wrote Bloomberg, while AP reports that the Portuguese leader “announced his resignation after being implicated in a widespread corruption investigation.”
For its part, Reuters reports that Costa has resigned “in the midst of an investigation into alleged irregularities committed by the predominantly socialist government in the management of lithium and hydrogen mining projects in the country”.
Among the newspapers that wrote news other than news agencies is Spain’s El Pais, which states that the “The judicial operation in Lisbon includes the arrests of his chief of staff and a businessman friend, as well as 42 searches” and given all this, “Costa says that the fact that he is under investigation is ‘incompatible with the dignity of the position'”.
Belgium’s La Libre identifies the reasons “why the Portuguese Prime Minister resigned” and then points to cases of suspected corruption.
António Costa resigned after almost eight years as premier, a position to which he was sworn in on November 26, 2015 by the then President of the Republic, Aníbal Cavaco Silva.
On March 30, 2022, when he took the oath of office in the XXIII Constitutional Government, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa warned António Costa that “it will not be politically easy” to replace him as head of the government in the middle of the term, implying that In In that case he would call early parliamentary elections.
On January 24 this year, when seven years had passed since his election as President of the Republic, he was more definitive, stating: “If the prime minister changes, parliament will be dissolved”referring to the “theoretical hypothesis that another Prime Minister from PS territory would emerge”.
“Because this majority was formed with a prime minister who acted not only as leader of the party, but also as leader of the government. It was very important, I said that in my inauguration speech and that is why it was excluded. I mean, with another prime minister there would be a dissolution of parliament.”he argued at the time.
Source: DN
