"For there to be a government, it must be cohesive and have the conditions to govern. I am convinced that if we join up again with the other left-wing parties, the solution would be less stable than the one we had", António Costa said in an interview with TVI and TVI 24.

The secretary-general of the PS also said that a formal government coalition with these parties would be "absolutely impossible" because it would imply a "breach of identity" of each political force.

In an interview that lasted almost 110 minutes, and included questions from selected members of the public and four journalists from the station, Costa said he had no doubts that the Portuguese "do not like absolute majorities" and, without ever asking for it, tried to dismantle the fears of this possibility, recalling his time at Lisbon City Hall and the "growing mechanisms of control" of Portuguese democracy.

The prime minister pledged not to cut people’s income or raise taxes in the event of a new economic crisis and expressed his conviction that the country is "better prepared" to face it because of the balanced deficit and the downward trajectory of the debt.