European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Down But Not Out – Costa's Comeback
Part 4
The fallout from "Operation Influencer" appeared to bring
António Costa's political career to an abrupt end in November 2023
but he managed to secure a top-level EU position in June
2024.
In the last part we saw how "Operation Influencer" – an investigation by the Portuguese Public Prosecutor into alleged "influence peddling" in connection with a number of large investment projects – appeared to bring António Costa's political career to an abrupt end in November 2023.
In this part we will look at how Costa managed to make a remarkable comeback in June 2024 when he secured a top-level EU position as President of the European Council.
In the immediate aftermath of Costa's resignation on 7th November 2023 such an appointment seemed highly unlikely.
An article entitled "António Costa’s downfall spells trouble for socialist hopes of EU top job" published by POLITICO on 10th November 2023 cited the Green MEP Daniel Freund as saying the following: “If he [Costa] thinks that he cannot be prime minister while this is ongoing, then obviously he cannot be European Council president while it is ongoing”.
However, the article conceded that "António Costa has not been found guilty of anything and he could still end up claiming a job in Brussels".
According to the article: "It wouldn’t be the first time that a top EU official had been appointed after being involved in a scandal. In July 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker was elected European Commission president a year after he tendered his resignation as Luxembourg’s prime minister in a scandal involving the nation’s secret services, which were alleged to have indulged in misconduct on his watch. His successor as Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was engulfed in a scandal when she was German defence minister, with allegations that lucrative contracts from her ministry were awarded to outside consultants without proper oversight."
It was also noted that it was unlikely that the "notoriously slow" Portuguese legal system would enable Costa to clear his name before a decision about Charles Michel's successor was due:
"[T]he Portuguese legal system is notoriously slow — the corruption case launched against Costa’s socialist predecessor, José Sócrates, in 2014 is still ongoing — and few expect any kind of clarity on Costa’s situation within a year."
In March 2024, in a follow-up article entitled "Has Portugal's António Costa struck his last deal?", POLITICO cited an unnamed EU official familiar with the ongoing discussions as follows:
"Especially in the North [of Europe], there are leaders who have very strict requirements for the job. Some of them say that Costa’s acquittal will not be enough: The people around him must also be cleared in order to dispel any kind of suspicion.”
Costa's links to Portuguese corruption scandals were also seen as a liability in the context of the upcoming European Parliament elections (due to be held between 6th and 9th June 2024) in which the far right was expected to make gains by campaigning on what POLITICO called "the rot within Europe’s mainstream parties".
The article speculated that if Costa wasn’t cleared, then European socialist support might coalesce around Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to preside over the European Council. But Frederiksen's tough domestic immigration policies were disliked by other European socialists, and there was said to be a desire in the socialist camp to have a southern European occupying one of the EU’s top jobs.
Some months later in June 2024, as EU leaders held preparatory talks on a number of top-level appointments following the European Parliament elections, EuroNews published an article entitled "António Costa in line for EU top job, despite judicial woes".
This EuroNews article confirmed that Costa's appointment as President of the European Council was more or less a done deal despite the fact that the legal proceedings connected with "Operation Influencer" were still ongoing.
The article referred to the parliamentary election held in Portugal in March 2024 which saw the formation of a centre-right minority government led by Luís Montenegro. It was noted that the new Prime Minister's "unwavering support" for Costa had significantly boosted the latter's chances of appointment:
"Undoubtedly, one of the biggest boosts for Costa is the unwavering support of the newly-installed prime minister [Luís] Montenegro, previously his political rival.
Montenegro has described Costa as the best candidate for the job and vowed to do everything in his power to support his bid, an endorsement considered pivotal in giving credibility to Costa’s claim to the Council presidency.
The Portuguese premier says he has “more trust” in Costa than he would have in a socialist of another nationality, and has hailed his strong track record in promoting European integration, backing Ukraine and supporting the EU’s enlargement process."
And so it came to pass that when the 27 EU heads of government finally met to vote on the matter on 27th June 2024, Costa's appointment as President of the European Council was finally confirmed.
Only one EU leader – the Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni – voted against Costa, expressing her displeasure at being excluded from preparatory talks between the three main EU parliamentary groups – the conservatives, socialists, and liberals – who had divvied up the top jobs between them. The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformist group, to which Meloni's party belongs, came third in the European vote, but was excluded from the negotiations.
Costa's term of office as President of the European Council commenced on 1st December 2024 and it is scheduled to run for two and a half years with the possibility of a reappointment for one further term.
Costa's appointment as President of the European Council was
decided by EU leaders on 27th June 2024 and his
two-and-a-half year term of office commenced on 1st
December 2024.
In the upcoming parts we plan to take a detour into the world of domestic Portuguese politics to see how prominent political figures from the political establishment of that country, in particular the former Prime Minister António Costa and his successor Luís Montenegro, are in a position to play key roles in supporting António Campinos in his EPO reappointment bid.
Stay tuned for more coming up shortly... █
Previously: