Portugal socialist leader named PM after weeks of turmoil

Antonio Costa, the leader of Portugal's Socialist Party, was named prime minister and tasked with forming a government today after weeks of political instability caused by an inconclusive election last month.
The appointment comes after Costa's anti-austerity alliance with Communists, Greens and the Left Bloc toppled the 11-day-old conservative minority government in a dramatic parliamentary vote earlier this month.
Portugal's political difficulties are being closely watched in Brussels and Costa has sought to allay fears his anti-austerity drive could propel the country back to deficit-busting policies that forced it into a three-year 78-billion-euro (USD 83 billion) bailout in 2011.
"The president of the republic (Anibal Cavaco Silva) decided after hearing from the parties represented in parliament to name Antonio Costa to the post of prime minister," his office said in a statement.

Keeping on the government of outgoing conservative prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho "would not have served the national interest," the statement said.
Although Passos Coelho's centre-right coalition won the the October 4 election, it lost the absolute majority it had enjoyed since 2011 and his government fell in a parliamentary vote on November 11.
Costa, 54, is a seasoned negotiator who has managed to pull together an alliance that had previously seemed unimaginable due to differences between the groups.
His government's policies aim at "a sustainable reduction in deficits and debt," Costa has repeatedly said.