Team Herald
PANJIM: Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s third government that took office on March 30, after winning the January 30 elections, is significant to Goa as besides the Prime Minister there is no other Goan or person of Goan origin in the cabinet.
Besides Costa himself, who is of Goan origin, the previous government had Goa-born Nelson Souza as the Planning Minister and João Leão of Goan origin as Finance Minister. Both have not found a place in the new cabinet. Leao, sources told Herald, left the government in a mutual agreement and has been replaced by the former mayor of Lisbon Fernando Medina who had succeeded Costa, when the latter went on to become the Prime Minister. There is no announcement of who the planning minister will be. Costa is the son of renowned writer Orlando da Costa.
Three persons with ties to Goa in the previous ministry was perhaps a first in a Portuguese government, but there are other firsts in Costa’s new cabinet. It is for the first time in Portuguese history that there is a woman Defence minister and there are more women than men in the government.