Portuguese PM reshuffles cabinet

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has reshuffled his cabinet after Defense Minister Jose Azeredo Lopes' resignation and government's approval of state budget.

The reshuffle of the cabinet was announced in a statement posted on Sunday on the website of the office of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, which said the president has accepted Costa's nominations of ministers.

The current Deputy Minister Pedro Siza Vieira will take over the work of Ministry of Economy from Manuel Caldeira Cabral while Joao Gomes Cravinho, who is currently the European Union's ambassador to Brazil, will replace Jose Azeredo Lopes, who resigned as the defense minister on Friday amid an investigation over the alleged cover-up of the theft of an arms depot in Tancos, some 130 km northeast of Lisbon in June last year.

Graca Fonseca will become the new minister of culture, replacing Luis Filipe Castro Mendes while Marta Temido takes over the post of health minister from Adalberto Campos Fernandes.

Joao Matos Fernandes will head the newly-created ministry of the environment and energy transition.

This is the major cabinet reshuffle since the minority Socialist Party government took power in Nomber 2015. The new ministers will be sworn in by president at presidential palace on Monday.

Prime Minister Costa justifies, in a statement on Sunday, for the reshaping of the cabinet with the need for the "renewed dynamic", the "strengthening of economic policy" and the priority to the energy transition, in the context of the fight against climate change.