António Luís Santos da Costa (born 17 July 1961) is a Portuguese politician who has been President of the European Council since December 2024. He was Prime Minister of Portugal from 2015 to 2024. His father’s family came from Goa, and he is the first person of Indian origin to have led a government in western Europe.
Quick Facts
| Full name | António Luís Santos da Costa |
| Born | 17 July 1961, Lisbon, Portugal |
| Age | 65 |
| Nationality | Portuguese |
| Indian roots | Father’s family from Margao, Goa |
| Education | University of Lisbon (law) |
| Party | Socialist Party |
| Offices | President of the European Council (since 2024); Prime Minister of Portugal (2015–2024); Mayor of Lisbon (2007–2015) |
| Spouse | Fernanda Tadeu (m. 1987) |
| Children | 2 |
Early Life
He was born in Lisbon. His father, Orlando da Costa, was a novelist and a member of the Communist Party who had been born in Mozambique to a Goan Catholic family and brought up in Margao, in Goa, before moving to Lisbon as a student. His mother, Maria Antónia Palla, was a well-known journalist and campaigner for women’s rights. Relatives in Goa call him by the Konkani pet name Babush, “little boy”.
He grew up in the last years of the dictatorship and joined the Socialist Youth at fourteen, soon after the revolution of 1974.
Education and Law
He studied law at the University of Lisbon and practised as a lawyer before going into politics full time.
Career
Minister and mayor
He entered parliament in 1991 and served in the government of António Guterres as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and then of Justice. After a period in the European Parliament he was Minister of the Interior from 2005 to 2007. He then won election as Mayor of Lisbon, where he stayed for eight years and oversaw the revival of the city’s run-down centre.
Prime Minister
In the election of 2015 his Socialists came second. He nonetheless became Prime Minister by making an unprecedented agreement with the parties of the far left. Opponents called the arrangement the “geringonça”, the contraption; it lasted four years.
- He reversed many of the austerity measures imposed after the debt crisis, while keeping the budget deficit down, and Portugal returned to growth.
- He was re-elected in 2019 and won an outright majority in 2022.
Resignation
On 7 November 2023 prosecutors announced an investigation into alleged irregularities in lithium and hydrogen projects, and searched his official residence. He resigned the same day, saying the office of Prime Minister was incompatible with any suspicion, while denying wrongdoing. He remained as caretaker until April 2024. He has not been charged.
European Council
In June 2024 the leaders of the European Union chose him as President of the European Council, the body in which the heads of government meet. He took office on 1 December 2024.
India
On a state visit in January 2017 he went to his ancestral house in Margao and was given an Overseas Citizen of India card by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India’s award for members of its diaspora. As Council President he has taken part in the talks towards a trade agreement between the European Union and India.
Personal Life
He married Fernanda Tadeu, a teacher, in 1987. They have a son and a daughter. He is a supporter of the football club Benfica and is known as an enthusiastic cook.
Featured image: António Costa as President-elect of the European Council, October 2024. Photo by Frédéric Sierakowski, European Council, licensed under attribution licence (© European Union), via Wikimedia Commons.
