The head of state will speak at 8:00pm at the Belém Palace, in Lisbon, a source from the Presidency of the Republic told Lusa.

On Tuesday night, after António Costa announced the decision to keep João Galamba as minister, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa released a note in which he stated that he "disagrees with his position regarding the political reading of the facts and the resulting perception of them by part of the Portuguese, with regard to the prestige of the institutions that govern them".

The head of state stressed that "you cannot exonerate a member of the Government without being proposed by the Prime Minister".


Deplorable


Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa mentioned that when presenting his resignation, João Galamba invoked "weighty reasons related to the perception of citizens regarding political institutions" and that the prime minister "understood not to do so, as a matter of conscience, despite the situation he considered deplorable".

The Prime Minister was at that exact moment finishing a press conference at the official residence of São Bento that started around 20:50, in which he announced that he did not accept João Galamba's resignation as Minister of Infrastructure: "It's about if of a noble gesture that I respect, but that in conscience I cannot accept".

António Costa considered that he could not impute "any fault" to João Galamba and repeated the word "conscience" twenty times to justify his decision, for which he took responsibility "exclusively", admitting that he was probably acting against the opinion of the majority of the Portuguese and certainly from commentators.

The Prime Minister said he had informed the President of the Republic before publicly announcing this decision, safeguarding respect for the opinions and decisions of the Head of State, but stressed that it was his competence to propose the appointment and dismissal of members of the Government.


Controversy


In recent days, the Minister of Infrastructure has been involved in controversy with his former deputy Frederico Pinheiro, who resigned on Wednesday, over information to be provided to the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into the Political Guardianship of TAP's Management.

Specifically, the notes taken by Frederico Pinheiro on a videoconference meeting with the executive president of TAP, Christine Ourmières-Widener, and members of the PS parliamentary group, on January 17 of this year, on the eve of his hearing at the Economy of the Assembly of the Republic.

The case involved allegations against Frederico Pinheiro for physical violence at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the theft of a laptop computer, after being fired, and the controversy increased when the intervention of the Information and Security Service (SIS) in the recovery of that computer was reported.