By Sergio Goncalves
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s president on Monday denied that he had approved a plan of departing Prime Minister Antony Costa, who resigned last week amid graft allegations, to invite central bank governor Mario Centeno to replace him as premier.
Costa stepped down on Tuesday over an investigation into alleged illegalities in his government’s handling of lithium and hydrogen projects and a large-scale data centre. Costa denies wrongdoing.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has called an election for March 10, after the dissolution of parliament later in November.
On Thursday, Costa told the president that instead of an election, his Socialist party (PS) proposed appointing Centeno, a respected European Central Bank policymaker and former finance minister in Costa’s administration, as premier.
Costa said on Thursday the president was aware of the invitation and supported it, but ended up rejecting the proposal and calling the election instead.
Centeno came under fire from Portuguese opposition parties on Friday over his political independence and potential conflict of interest, and the Bank of Portugal’s ethics committee is expected to meet on Monday to evaluate his conduct.
Centeno told the Financial Times late on Sunday he “had an invitation from the president and prime minister to reflect on and consider the possibility of leading the government”, but “was very far” from reaching a decision.
Costa said Centeno would only have given a “definite answer” to the proposal after speaking to the president and understanding the terms of his potential appointment.
However, in a statement on Monday, Rebelo de Sousa denied he had “invited anyone, namely the governor of the Bank of Portugal, to lead the government” or that he had “authorised anyone to contact anyone for that purpose”.
Opposition parties have previously questioned Centeno’s move from the finance ministry to the central bank in July 2020, during Costa’s second term. He announced his departure from the finance ministry in June 2020 and was nominated to head the bank a month later.
They complained of “revolving doors for government officials”, who leave a political job to work in a company, bank or supervisor or vice versa.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Catarina Demony and Bernadette Baum)
