António Costa | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2024 | |
| President of the European Council | |
| Assumed office 1 December 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Michel |
| Prime Minister of Portugal | |
| In office 26 November 2015 – 2 April 2024 | |
| President | Aníbal Cavaco Silva Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa |
| Preceded by | Pedro Passos Coelho |
| Succeeded by | Luís Montenegro |
| Secretary-General of the Socialist Party | |
| In office 22 November 2014 – 7 January 2024 | |
| President | Carlos César |
| Deputy | Ana Catarina Mendes José Luís Carneiro João Torres |
| Preceded by | António José Seguro |
| Succeeded by | Pedro Nuno Santos |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 22 November 2014 – 26 November 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | Pedro Passos Coelho |
| Preceded by | António José Seguro |
| Succeeded by | Pedro Passos Coelho |
| Mayor of Lisbon | |
| In office 1 August 2007 – 6 April 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Carmona Rodrigues |
| Succeeded by | Fernando Medina |
| Minister of Internal Administration | |
| In office 12 March 2005 – 17 May 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | José Sócrates |
| Preceded by | Daniel Sanches |
| Succeeded by | Rui Pereira |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 25 October 1999 – 6 April 2002 | |
| Prime Minister | António Guterres |
| Preceded by | José Vera Jardim |
| Succeeded by | Celeste Cardona |
| Minister of Parliamentary Affairs | |
| In office 27 November 1997 – 25 October 1999 | |
| Prime Minister | António Guterres |
| Preceded by | António Couto dos Santos |
| Succeeded by | Luís Marques Mendes |
| Member of the Assembly of the Republic[1][2] | |
| In office 23 October 2015 – 26 March 2024 | |
| Constituency | Lisbon |
| In office 5 April 2002 – 9 March 2005 | |
| Constituency | Leiria |
| In office 4 November 1991 – 26 October 1995 | |
| Constituency | Lisbon |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 20 July 2004 – 11 March 2005 | |
| Constituency | Portugal |
| Personal details | |
| Born | António Luís Santos da Costa 17 July 1961 Lisbon, Portugal |
| Political party | Socialist (since 1975) |
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Spouse | Fernanda Tadeu (m. 1987) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
|
| Alma mater | University of Lisbon |
| Signature |  |
| Website | portugal.gov.pt/pm |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Portugal |
| Branch/service | Portuguese Army |
António Luís Santos da Costa GCC GCIH (Portuguese: [ɐ̃ˈtɔnju ˈkɔʃtɐ]; born 17 July 1961)[3] is a Portuguese lawyer and politician who has served as President of the European Council since 2024.[4]
He previously served as the 118th Prime Minister of Portugal from 2015 to 2024, presiding over the XXI (2015–2019), XXII (2019–2022) and XXIII Constitutional Governments (2022–2024). Costa's near 9-year tenure as Prime Minister is the second longest, with Costa also being the longest serving politician in government functions, in Portuguese democracy,[5] and the longest of any Iberian Peninsula national leader in the 21st century.[6]
Previously, he was Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs from 1995 to 1997, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs from 1997 to 1999, Minister of Justice from 1999 to 2002, Minister of Internal Administration from 2005 to 2007, as well as Mayor of Lisbon from 2007 to 2015. He was elected Secretary-General of the Socialist Party in 2014, a post he held until early 2024.[7]
On 7 November 2023, Costa resigned following an investigation involving members of his government in connection with alleged corruption and malfeasance in handling lithium mining and hydrogen projects in the country.[8][9]
The President of Portugal decided to dissolve Parliament and called for a snap election, held on 10 March 2024. Costa stayed as Prime Minister in a caretaker capacity until his successor, hitherto leader of the opposition Luís Montenegro, was sworn in on 2 April 2024.[10][11]
In December 2024 Costa succeeded Charles Michel as President of the European Council.[12]
Early life and education
António Luís Santos da Costa was born on 17 July 1961 in Lisbon, Portugal, the son of writer Orlando da Costa and journalist Maria Antónia Palla. He is of French, Mozambican, and Goan descent.[13][14] In Goa, Costa is affectionately known as Babush, a word in Konkani meaning 'a young loved one'.[15]
Costa graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in the 1980s when he first entered politics and was elected as a Socialist deputy to the municipal council. He completed the mandatory military service in 1987[16] and later practised law briefly from 1988, before entering politics full-time.[17]
Political career
António Costa joined the Socialist Youth in 1975, at the age of fourteen.[18] In the 1982 local elections, Costa was elected as a member of the Lisbon municipal assembly, being re-elected in 1985 and 1989.[19] In the 1991 legislative election, Costa was elected as member of the Assembly of the Republic from the district of Lisbon.[20]
For the 1993 local elections, Costa was picked as the mayoral candidate for the municipality of Loures, a suburb of Lisbon.[21] This contest threw national attention because Costa did a campaign stunt by promoting a race between a Ferrari and a Donkey to highlight the difficulty in roads and transportation to Lisbon, and to point for the necessity of better roads and a subway connection to Loures.[22] Costa narrowly lost the mayoral race to the Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) candidate by a 35 to 34 percent margin.[23]
In the 1996 presidential election, António Costa was the campaign director of Jorge Sampaio's successful run for the Presidency of the Republic.[24] Costa's first role in a Socialist government was as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs under Prime Minister António Guterres between 1997 and 1999. In Guterres' second term, Costa held the office of Minister of Justice from 1999 to 2002.[17] Costa also coordinated the organization of the Expo '98 in Lisbon.[25]
In the 2002 legislative election, Costa was elected a member of parliament from the district of Leiria and, due the defeat of the PS in this election, became the party's parliamentary leader in opposition.[20] During the 2003 Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal, António Costa's name was involved in wiretaps where he appears to want to interfere with the Public Prosecutor's Office to avoid the arrest of the PS deputy Paulo Pedroso.[26] Costa was a member of the European Parliament for the Socialist Party (PES), heading the list for the 2004 European elections after the death of top candidate António de Sousa Franco. On 20 July 2004, he was elected as one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament. He also served on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.[27]
Costa resigned as an MEP on 11 March 2005 to become Minister of State and Internal Administration in the government of José Sócrates following the 2005 national elections.[28]
Mayor of Lisbon
António Costa resigned from all government offices in May 2007 to become his party's candidate for the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal's capital city. He was elected as Lisbon's mayor on 15 July 2007 and reelected in 2009 and 2013, with a bigger majority each time. In April 2015 he resigned his duties as a mayor, while he was already the secretary general of the Socialist Party and the party's candidate for Prime Minister, so that he could prepare his campaign for the October 2015 general elections.[29]
Candidate for prime minister
In September 2014, the Socialist Party chose Costa as its candidate to be prime minister of Portugal in the 2015 national elections. In a ballot to select the party's candidate, gaining nearly 70 per cent of the votes, he defeated party leader António José Seguro, who announced his resignation after the result.[30] By April 2015, he stepped down as mayor to focus on his campaign.[31]
During the campaign, Costa pledged to ease back on austerity and give more disposable income back to households.[32] He proposed to boost incomes, hiring and growth to cut the budget deficits while scrapping austerity measures and cutting taxes for the middle and lower classes, asserting that would still allow deficits to reduce in line with the Euro convergence criteria.[33] Also, he pledged to roll back a hugely unpopular hike in value added tax on restaurants and reinstate some benefits for civil servants.[31]
Prime Minister of Portugal
Source: Wikipidea
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