European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios - Introducing the Other António
Part 2
António Costa, a prominent political figure in Portugal and in Brussels, is currently in a position to play a significant role in the reappointment campaign of his compatriot António Campinos.
In the last part we reported on a meeting which took place in Brussels on 3rd February 2026 between two prominent European officials of Portuguese origin, namely António Campinos, the President of the European Patent Office, and António Costa, the President of the European Council.
In this part we plan to take an introductory look at the political career of António Costa who could be poised to play a significant role in the reappointment campaign of his compatriot Campinos.
António Luís Santos da Costa was born on 17th July 1961 in Lisbon, Portugal. His father was Orlando da Costa (1929-2006), a writer of Goan paternal and Portuguese-French maternal descent. His mother was Maria Antónia Palla, one of Portugal’s first female journalists.
Orlando da Costa was born in Maputo, Mozambique, in July 1929 but was raised in Margão, Portuguese Goa. During the 1950s he spent most of his time in Casa dos Estudantes do Império, an institution built to house students from the Portuguese colonies that were studying in the metropole. There, he came in contact with many of the future leaders of the nationalist movements of the colonies, such as the MPLA, the FRELIMO and the PAIGC. Between 1950 and 1953, the elder Costa's communist sympathies led to him being arrested three times by the Salazar government.
António Costa grew up in a family which was actively opposed to the authoritarian Estado Novo regime. However, when he came of age and started to engage in politics himself he did not follow the militant communism of his parents. Instead he joined the youth wing of the more moderate centre-left Socialist Party shortly after the Carnation Revolution in 1974.
Costa pursued legal studies at the University of Lisbon in the 1980s and after graduation he was elected as a Socialist deputy to the municipal council. After completing mandatory military service in 1987, he practised law briefly from 1988 before entering politics full-time.
In June 2004 he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Socialist Party, and shortly afterwards 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.
Following the 2005 national elections in Portugal, Costa resigned as an MEP to become Minister of State and Internal Administration in the government of José Sócrates.
Following the 2005 national elections António Costa (left) stepped down as MEP to become Minister of State and Internal Administration in the government of José Sócrates (right).
Sócrates headed the Portuguese government as Prime Minister from 2005 until 2011 when his government proposed another austerity package to deal with the ongoing fallout from the global financial crisis of 2008. The parliament rejected the austerity package and Sócrates resigned. Soon afterwards Portugal requested a € 78 billion bailout from the EU and IMF. This ended the political career of Sócrates and damaged his reputation, with many critics blaming his government for the country’s catastrophic financial situation.
A couple of years later in 2014, Sócrates was arrested at Lisbon airport as part of “Operation Marquis,” a major corruption investigation. Prosecutors alleged that during his time in office he had taken millions of euros in bribes from businesses, laundered money through offshore accounts and committed tax fraud and document forgery. He spent time in pre-trial detention and house arrest, becoming the first former Portuguese prime minister to be jailed. Sócrates has consistently denied wrongdoing, claiming that the case was politically motivated.
In 2017, prosecutors filed 31 criminal charges against Sócrates, including corruption and money laundering. In 2021, a judge struck out many of the corruption charges – some of which had expired under the statute of limitations – leaving a small number of money-laundering and forgery charges.
Appeal proceedings later led to some of the corruption charges being reinstated and Sócrates is still facing multiple charges linked to about €34 million in alleged illicit payments. However, the inordinate delay in bringing the case to trial means that there is a very real possibility that many of the charges will have expired (due to the statute of limitations) before a verdict can be delivered.
Meanwhile, following the departure of Sócrates from active politics, his former protégé António Costa was appointed Secretary-General of the Socialist Party in 2014.
Costa led the party to significant electoral victories in the 2015, 2019, and 2022 elections and held office as Prime Minister from 2015 to 2024, making him one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers in recent Portuguese history.
He also made a positive impression among other European leaders at EU meetings based on his capacity for dialogue in international politics and on his efforts to reduce public debt and budget deficits back home in Portugal. His name came up in discussions as the ideal successor to Charles Michel, whose term as President of the European Council was due to end in November 2024.
Costa made a positive impression among other European leaders. Pictured here with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (left), Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (centre) and French President Emmanuel Macron (right).
But just as it seemed that Costa was headed for a top-level EU position in Brussels something happened that turned his world upside-down and appeared to bring his political career to an abrupt end.
In the next part we will take a look at the "influence peddling" scandal that led to his sudden downfall in November 2023. █
Previously:
| 2026-06-01 | European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios |
| 2026-06-02 | European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios - On the Campaign Trail in Brussels |