The president of Portugal considers that there is a “very strong consensus” in favor of Costa leading the European Council

June 20 () –

The president of Portugal, Rebelo Marcelo de Sousa, stated this Wednesday that there is a “very strong consensus” for the former Portuguese prime minister António Costa to succeed the Belgian Charles Michel as head of the European Council.

“From the contacts I had in Switzerland I have the feeling that there is really a very strong consensus in relation to António Costa for the Presidency of the European Council,” he told journalists at the entrance to the Pessoa Prize ceremony in Lisbon, according to The Lusa news agency has reported.

These statements have taken place after the current prime minister of the country, the conservative Luís Montenegro, highlighted the qualities of his predecessor to be the future leader of the European Council, clarifying that it is a personal support despite being part of political families different. “I do not trust any other socialist in Europe to play this role,” he concluded.

On the other hand, he has declined to give his opinion regarding the fact that the Portuguese Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the leak of information about the cause of the so-called Influencer operation, specifically due to the dissemination in various media of the transcription of wiretaps in which Costa appears.

“I have nothing to comment on, since they are decisions of a highest body of justice, which is the Supreme Court of Justice,” he simply said. “I found out from you,” he admitted to journalists.

The case is under summary secrecy, but part of the content has been made public, including a conversation between Costa and his former Minister of Infrastructure, Joao Galamba, in which both spoke of the replacement at the top of the airline TAP, facts that are not would constitute any crime.

Operation Influencer, unleashed at the beginning of last November and which examines an alleged corruption plot within the previous Government, cost the previous prime minister his job, who resigned in a matter of hours and opened the doors to elections that ended up expelling him. to the socialists to the opposition.