EU/PORTUGAL: When Mr José Manuel Durão Barroso landed in Brussels last night to accept his nomination as European Commission president, he left his country in the throes of a political crisis, writes Peter Wise in Lisbon.
Before leaving home, the Portuguese prime minister said in a television address he had accepted the invitation with the aim of serving Portuguese interests as well as the EU as a whole.
"Portugal owes a great deal to Europe, and when someone Portuguese is asked to fulfil an important role in Europe, we should not refuse," he said.
The resignation of a prime minister for motives that were clearly in the national interest should not cause instability or alter the direction of government policy, he added. Whatever his assurances, however, the consequences of his departure are likely to anything but smooth and predictable.
Mr Jorge Sampaio, Portugal's Socialist president, must decide whether to call a general election two years ahead of schedule or allow the centre-right government to appoint a new prime minister to replace Mr Barroso.
Mr Barroso's remarks made clear he was not in favour of an early election. But Mr Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, leader of the opposition Socialists called on the president to dissolve parliament and call an election as quickly as possible.
Mr Pedro Santana Lopes, the mayor of Lisbon, is being put forward by leading Social Democrats, the main government party, as their favoured successor to Mr Durão Barroso.
But the possibility of the Lisbon mayor, a populist leader with limited experience of government or foreign policy, becoming prime minister without standing in an election has roused the ire of opposition politicians and caused divisions within the government coalition itself.
Demonstrators gathered outside the presidential palace at the weekend to protest against Mr Lopes becoming prime minister.