António Costa likes to quote advice that António Guterres gave him: “The first mission of a politician is not to create problems; the second is to face them; and the third is to transform them into opportunities.†He has done nothing else – and life has been going well for him. The last time was last November, when he resigned as prime minister after a statement from the PGR that placed him as a suspect in Operation Influencer. By resigning, he creates the opportunity to dedicate himself 100% to his candidacy for a top European job. He takes the opportunity to lose weight and dedicates himself intensely to improving his English—a few years ago “totally incomprehensibleâ€, according to a comrade from the PS.
