Seven months after resigning as prime minister, Portuguese socialist Antonio Costa is back in Brussels, where he was elected president of the European Council on Thursday.
This pragmatic and skilled tactician has proven himself capable of leading difficult negotiations or turning setbacks into opportunities.
The sense of compromise will be a precious asset to this 62-year-old jurist with Indian roots in his new role at the head of the circle of heads of state and government of the Twenty-Seven, where he will succeed the Belgian Charles Michel on December 1st.
“Building unity among states will be my top priority,” the leader said after the summit. “Europe and the world are facing difficult times, but the European Union has already demonstrated its resilience in the past, always finding strength in unity,” he insisted.
Having come to power in his country in 2015 following elections that he had nevertheless lost, Mr Costa, a round face, white hair and thin glasses, resigned in November after being cited in a corruption case, which ultimately appears to be poorly supported.
This investigation ended eight years of socialist government in Portugal and paved the way for a new moderate right-wing executive.
It has since been harshly criticised by several legal authorities for its lack of solidity.
Heard by the courts at the end of May, at his request, Mr. Costa was not charged and, on the evening of the European elections, the new Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro declared his support for a possible European candidacy by Mr. Costa.
– Big Goan family –
Born on July 17, 1961 in Lisbon, Antonio Costa grew up in the intellectual circles of his parents: a socialist journalist and a communist writer descended from a large family from Goa, a former Portuguese colonial trading post in India.
From the age of 14, “Babush” (“child” in Konkani, the language of Goa), who claims to have suffered more from the divorce of his parents than from racism, became involved in socialist youth.
Trained in law and political science, he became a lawyer then, at the age of 34, Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, a key position in the minority government of Antonio Guterres, the current Secretary General of the UN, before becoming his minister. of Justice.
After a brief stint in the European Parliament, he returned to office as Interior Minister under José Socrates, but left the government after two years to be elected Mayor of Lisbon.
Eight years later, he became head of the Socialist Party.
Persevering, this supporter of the Benfica football club, married to a teacher and father of two children, has built his career with the same patience he shows when faced with puzzles, his favorite pastime.
– Alliances of circumstance –
After losing the 2015 legislative elections, he took power by forging an unprecedented pact with the radical left to “turn the page on austerity”.
Taking advantage of a favourable economic situation, Mr Costa has unravelled the budgetary austerity measures adopted by the right in exchange for an international aid plan, while continuing to clean up the public accounts to post the first budget surplus in Portugal’s recent history.
Stronger than expected, this alliance of circumstances allowed this lover of cooking, cinema and fado to complete his first four-year term.
Winner of the 2019 legislative elections without an absolute majority, he then took the gamble of refocusing his policy and did not renew his agreement with the communists, who ended up abandoning him by provoking the 2022 elections. He won with an absolute majority which, however, will not complete his mandate.
His pragmatism has allowed him to extend his influence beyond his political family. As in 2020, when he visited Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and helped convince him not to block the European post-Covid recovery plan, crucial for Portugal.
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