Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa apologizes and says he will not hold public office again

The resigned Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, apologized to the Portuguese this Saturday and stated that he will probably not hold any public office again, after he resigned due to an investigation against him for alleged corruption and prevarication.

“I have the duty to apologize,” Costa said in a speech to the nation, after resigning on Tuesday after being implicated in a corruption case, about which he noted that, “with the foreseeable duration of this judicial process, with great probability “, will “never again” hold public office.

The socialist does not want to “replace” Justice, but admitted that the seizure of envelopes with money in the office of his chief of staff, Vítor Escária, makes him feel “betrayed” in his trust and gives him “shame.”

Costa, who already assured on Tuesday that he has not committed any “illegal act”, reiterated this Saturday that he is willing to collaborate with Justice: “When someone wants to hear me in a judicial process, they know where I am,” he said.

In addition to Escária, another of the detainees is Diogo Lacerda Machado, who was Costa's best man at his wedding and whom the resigned prime minister had described as his “best friend.”

“A prime minister has no friends,” said the socialist this Saturday, who stressed that Lacerda Machado has not collaborated with his Cabinet for “many years” and that he did not speak with him at any time about the businesses now investigated.

“Whatever he may or may not have done in this process, he never did it with my authorization, my knowledge or my interference, and he never spoke to me about this matter,” he said.

Costa asked the Portuguese not to confuse the “individual responsibility of whoever” with “the exercise of government action.”

In that sense, he defended the policies developed by his Government to promote investments, specifically in the lithium and hydrogen businesses that are now under investigation.

“To justice what belongs to justice and to politics what belongs to politics.”. It also means that future governments of Portugal, whoever the prime minister and its members, must be guaranteed freedom of political action,” he insisted.

He specifically defended the simplification of bureaucracy implemented by his Government because it “promotes transparency.”

Costa assured that the lithium mine licenses in Montalegre and Boticas, investigated by the Prosecutor's Office, were required to comply with the conditions of the environmental impact study, such as guaranteeing the water supply or the protection of the Iberian wolf in the region.

Regarding the data center in Sines, another of the projects under investigation, Costa highlighted that it is the largest foreign investment in Portugal since the arrival of the Volkswagen factory and stressed that they were forced to respect the environmental protection conditions of the area. .

“Portugal cannot waste investments,” he reiterated.

After Costa's resignation, the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced early elections for March 10.