Portugal's president to address the nation after rift with PM

PORTUGAL: Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will address the nation at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Thursday, a spokesperson for the presidency said, after his rift with Prime Minister Antonio Costa increased the risk of a political crisis.

Opposition parties on Wednesday called on the president to use his power to dissolve parliament after Costa decided to keep in job Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba, who had submitted his resignation in a deepening scandal around state-owned airline TAP, snubbing Rebelo de Sousa. The conservative president had made clear he wanted Galamba out and said he disagreed with Costa's decision after previously having warned that he could disband parliament if the government lost credibility.

He is unlikely to do so without first calling his consultative body, the Council of State, and even then, the prospect of a potential snap election producing an even weaker government could stay his hand, analysts say. Costa's Socialists won an outright parliamentary majority in January 2022, but his third government in a row has been plagued by instability, although analysts see it surviving - for now at least.

More than 10 ministers and secretaries of state have left their posts in the past year, at least two of them linked to scandals at airline TAP.