The meeting of the State Council called by the Presidency of the Republic for a possible dissolution of parliament, after the resignation of the prime minister, began today at around 15:20 pm and is attended by all councilors.
Three State councilors, Lídia Jorge, António Damásio and the president of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, are not present at the Palácio de Belém, in Lisbon, but are participating in the meeting via videoconference, a source from the Presidency of the Republic told Lusa.
The Council of State was convened “under article 145, subparagraph a) and subparagraph e), second part” of the Constitution – under which it is the responsibility of this consultative body “to pronounce on the dissolution of the Assembly of Republic", but also, "in general, advise the President of the Republic in the exercise of his functions".
The President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced that he "will speak to the country immediately at the Council of State meeting" to announce his decision in view of the resignation of the Prime Minister, António Costa, on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the head of state received the eight parties with parliamentary seats at the Belém Palace, most of which expressed themselves in favor of dissolution and calling early legislative elections.
However, the PS, which has an absolute majority of deputies, proposed to the President of the Republic the appointment of another prime minister to head a new Government supported by the current majority.
António Costa presented his resignation on Tuesday, which the President of the Republic accepted, after searches in several Government offices, also targeting his chief of staff, carried out as part of investigations into lithium and hydrogen projects and after the Public Prosecutor's Office announced that it is the subject of an autonomous investigation in the Supreme Court of Justice.
The current Government resulted from a dissolution of parliament, the first decreed by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, at the beginning of his second presidential term, following the failure of the State Budget proposal for 2022 in general, and which resulted in the victory of the PS with absolute majority in the early legislative elections on January 30, 2022.
Right at the beginning of the current legislature, the President of the Republic warned that an eventual departure of António Costa would lead to the dissolution of parliament, which he later reiterated, ruling out the formation of another executive with the same majority.
Throughout this year and a half, there has been speculation about the possibility of António Costa wanting to leave in the middle of the legislature to occupy a European position, a scenario that he himself ruled out.
This is the 32nd meeting of the political consultation body of the President of the Republic held during the mandates of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Chaired by the head of State, this consultative body's members are inherently those holding the positions of president of the Assembly of the Republic, prime minister, president of the Constitutional Court, ombudsman, presidents of regional governments and former presidents of the Republic.
Under the terms of the Constitution, it also includes five citizens appointed by the head of State – António Lobo Xavier, Luís Marques Mendes, Leonor Beleza, António Damásio and Lídia Jorge – and five elected by the Assembly of the Republic – who are currently Carlos César, Manuel Alegre, António Sampaio da Nóvoa, Francisco Pinto Balsemão and Miguel Cadilhe.
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