The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, warned that in this term, with an absolute majority of the PS, the possible departure of António Costa from the position of Prime Minister, which is now taking place, would lead to the dissolution of the government. parliament.
On March 30, 2022, in the speech he made at the inauguration ceremony of the XXIII Constitutional Government, the third led by António Costa, the Head of State left a public warning to the Prime Minister that his replacement would not be “politically easy”. halfway through the legislature.
“They gave the absolute majority to a party, but also to a man, Your Excellency, Prime Minister, a man who in fact made a point of personalizing the vote when he talked about two people as head of the government,” Marcelo said Rebelo de Sousa.
“Now that he has won, and has done so for four and a half years, I am sure Your Excellency knows that it will not be politically easy to replace this face, this face that won the elections unquestionably and remarkably, with another mid-election. Through.”he added, implying that he would call early legislation in this case.
On January 24 this year, when seven years had passed since his election as President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa repeated this warning, in even more definitive terms: “If the Prime Minister changes, Parliament will be dissolved.”
The head of state referred to the “theoretical hypothesis that another prime minister from the PS area would appear” in the middle of the parliamentary term, which he ruled out.
“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.
During these two and a half years, there was speculation about the possibility that António Costa wanted to leave mid-term to take a European position, a scenario he himself ruled out.
Today the Prime Minister presented his resignation to the President of the Republic, who accepted it, after the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that it is the subject of an autonomous investigation at the Supreme Court into lithium and hydrogen projects.
In the morning, searches were carried out at government buildings, including São Bento’s official residence, with the prime minister’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, arrested for questioning.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa convened the parties with seats in parliament for Wednesday and the State Council for Thursday, “pursuant to Article 145, paragraph a) and paragraph e), second part” of the Constitution.
These two paragraphs concern the powers of the Council of State and establish that it is the responsibility of this consultative body “to pronounce on the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic”, but also “in general to appoint the President of to advise the Republic”. Republic in the exercise of its functions”.
The President of the Republic will address the country immediately after the meeting of the State Council, scheduled for Thursday at 3 p.m. at the Belém Palace.
In his address to the nation today, the Prime Minister stated that he had “head held high” and a “clear conscience” and justified his resignation on the grounds that “the dignity of the Prime Minister’s duties is incompatible with any presumption of his integrity . , their good behavior and, even less, with the suspicion of committing a criminal offence”.
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.
The current government is the result of the dissolution of parliament and early parliamentary elections on January 30, 2022, following the implementation of the 2022 state budget proposal in general, at the beginning of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s second presidential term.
Source: DN
