The Portuguese president on Monday denied his approval of a plan by Prime Minister Antoni Costa, who resigned last week amid corruption allegations, to invite central bank governor Mario Centeno to replace him as prime minister.
Mr Costa resigned on Tuesday following an investigation into allegations of illegality in his government’s handling of lithium, hydrogen and large-scale data center projects. Mr Costa denies any wrongdoing.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa called elections for March 10 after dissolving parliament in November.
On Thursday, Costa told the president that instead of holding elections, his Socialist Party is proposing to appoint Centeno, a respected European Central Bank official and former finance minister in the Costa administration, to the post of prime minister.
Costa said on Thursday that the president was aware of the call and supported it, but ended up rejecting the proposal and calling elections instead.
Centeno was criticized on Friday by Portuguese opposition parties over his political independence and potential conflicts of interest, and the Bank of Portugal’s ethics committee is expected to meet on Monday to assess his behaviour.
Centeno told the Financial Times late on Sunday that he had received an invitation from the president and the prime minister to think and consider the possibility of leading the government, but he was very far from making a decision.
Costa said Centeno would not have given a “definitive answer” to the proposal until after speaking with the president and understanding the terms of his potential appointment.
However, in a statement issued on Monday, Mr. Rebelo de Sousa denied “inviting anyone, namely the governor of the Bank of Portugal, to lead the government” or “authorizing anyone to contact anyone for this purpose.”
Opposition parties had already questioned Mr. Centeno’s move from the Finance Ministry to the Central Bank in July 2020, during Mr. Costa’s second term. He announced his resignation from the Ministry of Finance in June 2020, and was appointed president of the bank a month later.
They complained about the “revolving door of government employees,” who leave a political position to work for a company, bank, or supervisor, or vice versa.
