Your global history takes us to Portugal where Prime Minister Antonio Costa submitted his resignation last night…
As required by the Portuguese constitution, it was handed over to the conservative President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who immediately accepted it. The rest for today:
All political parties will be received at the presidential palace and it will then be up to President de Sousa to call new elections or ask the Socialists to propose another prime minister.
For the Portuguese, it was a real shock when they voted in January last year and reappointed António Costa as president of the country by giving him what he had dreamed of: an absolute majority, without the need to ally with other left-wing parties.
It was a corruption case that got the better of him…
It’s actually a series of scandals we’re talking about: last May, suspicions of amateurism and even embezzlement surrounding the national airline TAP forced dozens of ministers and secretaries of state to resign.
And this time, it’s even more serious: the Portuguese Attorney General’s Office is investigating suspicions of corruption in two lithium extraction projects, but also investigating the conditions for granting a data center and licenses for “green” lithium production.
Yesterday, the Portuguese judicial system issued 42 search warrants and police searched 37 private and public places, including the Prime Minister’s official residence as well as two ministries: Environment and Infrastructure.
Were there any arrests?
At least 5 at the moment, including the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, the Mayor and two senior executives of the franchise company. They are all suspected of an illegal conspiracy and were detained for fear of collusion or attempt to flee the country.
There are also some resounding indictments, such as the Portuguese Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, as well as the head of the Portuguese Environment Agency who approved most of these mining and industrial projects.
In fact, protests have been escalating in the country for months, especially against these mining projects, while Portugal has the first lithium reserve in Europe. A large portion of the population doesn’t want it, and local environmentalists are fighting against it.
But returning to the Prime Minister…or rather the former Prime Minister…Antonio Costa…what is he accused of?
Column by Anthony Belanger
3 minutes
Nothing at the moment! But this resignation also constitutes a strong blow to the entire European left. Socialists or Social Democrats across the continent are adrift: in Germany, Olaf Schulz’s Social Democratic Party rules, but is trailing in the polls.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez still fails to form a government, three and a half months after the elections. In Northern Europe, they rule only in Denmark, and finally in Italy, the Democratic Party is at its lowest ebb.
So Portugal and its Socialist Prime Minister, re-elected less than two years ago by an absolute majority, were something of a hope and a horizon for this desperate European left. Today, even that glimmer of light in the electoral darkness has been extinguished.
