Costa says goodbye to the PS with a warning: "They may have knocked me down, but they did not defeat me"

The acting prime minister of Portugal and former socialist general secretary, António Costa, warned this Friday that although they have been able to overthrow him, they have not “defeated” him, in a farewell speech to the party in which he expressed his support for his successor. Pedro Nuno Santos.

Almost two months after resigning after learning that he was being investigated by the courts, Costa said goodbye to the Socialist Party (PS) at the opening of the party’s 24th National Congress, where he reviewed his eight years in government and handed over the baton.

But he left a warning: “They may have overthrown me but they did not defeat me. They may have overthrown our Government but they did not overthrow the PS.”

The socialist defended stability, continuity and unity in his farewell speech, in which he assured that the party is still “alive” and strong” and showed his confidence in a victory in the early elections on March 10.

And he also left an open door to the left-wing partners with whom he reached a parliamentary agreement in 2015, known as ‘geringonça’, which lifted him to power.

“We created a new pattern of governance in our country. A new opportunity to govern on the left, which proved to work well, and that is why those walls (between the parties) will never exist again,” he defended.

This praise for the ‘geringonça’ comes on the same day that one of its former partners, the Bloco de Esquerda, showed itself available for new agreements in the future, and when the PS has a new leader more inclined to the left, who was in charge precisely to negotiate the 2015 pact.

Costa reviewed his eight years in government and stated that in Portugal there is now “more freedom than there was before” thanks to measures such as the expansion of medically assisted reproduction or euthanasia.

He also highlighted policies to reinforce parity, regionalization, support for young people, the fight against inequalities and the fight against climate change.

Furthermore, he defended his policy of “correct accounts”, with increased salaries and reduction of the deficit and debt, without the “devil” reaching the country as the right wing warned at the time.

“The devil is the right and the Portuguese did not return power to the right,” he said.

Costa defended unity in the party and showed his support for his successor, the former Minister of Infrastructure Pedro Nuno Santos: “With Pedro Nuno Santos we are prepared for the fight and prepared to win,” he said.

“It is a huge honor to have been general secretary of the PS,” he said, visibly moved.

At the end of his speech, he went to look for the new secretary general and took him by the hand to the center of the stage to receive the applause of the militants.

Costa thus recovered an old tradition of the party that had not occurred for more than a decade, in which the outgoing leader was in charge of the opening of the National Congress, in a gesture with which he tried to show harmony and unity within the PS.

Santos will speak in Congress on Saturday and will give the closing speech on Sunday.

The socialists had to renew their leadership sooner than expected after Costa resigned after being investigated in a case of alleged irregularities in lithium and hydrogen businesses.

The acting prime minister, who always had aspirations for a European position, said in December that after hearing the court verdict they could talk about his possible future in politics.