Corruption crisis engulfs Portugal as PM stands down

Portugal's Prime Minister António Costa resigned yesterday after police raided his official residence and confirmed his implication in a corruption probe over lithium mines and a green-hydrogen project.

With "the country's leadership now in flux" said Politico, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa must exercise his constitutional right to "either appoint a new prime minister, or dissolve parliament, sparking an election".

Following Costa's resignation announcement, De Sousa said he would seek advice from leaders of political parties with representation in parliament, before the Council of State, an advisory body to the president, meets on Thursday.

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The corruption probe is investigating the award of contracts by the government for two large-scale lithium-mining projects, "as Portugal tries to win a place for itself in Europe's growing battery-manufacturing production chain", said The Economist.

Prosecutors said that in the course of their investigations, suspects had invoked the "name and authority" of Costa and suggested he had made interventions to "unblock procedures".

Costa said he was "surprised" to learn "a criminal case has already been or will be initiated against me", and insisted that he had nothing to do with any "illicit or reprehensible act".

"But regardless of this, the dignity of the role of prime minister and the trust that the Portuguese people have in institutions are absolutely incompatible with [having] a prime minister who faces suspicions about his integrity," he added.

Paulo Otero, a law professor at the University of Lisbon, called it the gravest moment of institutional discredit since the country became a democracy in 1976. 

"What is at stake is not suspicion about former rulers or a former prime minister, but about a prime minister in office," he told Público, a Portuguese newspaper. 

Whoever succeeds Costa "will face the difficult task of restoring public trust in government", said The Economist.