The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, said today that the former Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, “has all the qualities” to be President of the European Council, but warned that this is a very premature debate.
Claiming to be “a declared fan of António Costa’s politics and the leadership he has exercised both in Portugal and in Europe”, Sánchez stressed that the debate and negotiations for the choice of the next president of the European Council are still “at a very premature stage”.
Even so, he added that with regard to the European political family to which the Socialists belong and what their contribution could be within the European Council in that debate, António Costa, in his opinion, “has all the qualities” to occupy the position.
“But that obviously has to be a negotiation process that hasn’t started yet, and so it’s too early for me to make a clearer statement. But anyway, António Costa is a great politician,” he said.
Sánchez was asked about the possibility of António Costa chairing the European Council, the body where the heads of state or government of the European Union countries sit, at a press conference in Madrid alongside the new Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro.
According to Sánchez, the leaders of the Portuguese and Spanish governments have not spoken today about the possibility of António Costa chairing the European Council and Spain supporting the former Prime Minister for the post.
“But I understand that the Prime Minister [Luís Montenegro] has a very good relationship with former Prime Minister Costa. Prime Minister Luís [Montenegro] knows that I am a declared fan of António Costa’s politics and the leadership he has exercised both in Portugal and in Europe,” said Pedro Sánchez.
Luís Montenegro, for his part, did not comment on the possibility of António Costa running for the European Council and limited himself to saying that he is not “as fond of the policies” of the former Portuguese Prime Minister as Pedro Sánchez.
“But that doesn’t stop us from having common purposes and common goals that we will try to achieve together,” he said.
Elections to the European Parliament will take place in June, followed by the selection of the presidents of the Commission and the Council for the new European legislature.