House In Margao, Stories In Father's Books: European Council Chief Antonio Costa's Goa Connect

As India and European Union signed what is being called “the mother of all deals” on Tuesday, European Council President António Costa spoke about his Indian roots. Showing his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card in New Delhi on the sidelines of signing of the India-EU FTA, Costa said, “I am from Goa”.

“I’m the President of the European Council, but I’m also an overseas Indian citizen. Then, as you can imagine, for me it has a special meaning. I’m very proud of my roots in Goa, where my father’s family came from and the connection between Europe and India is something personal to me,” he said.

#WATCH | Delhi | President of the European Council, António Luís Santos da Costa, says, “I’m the President of the European Council, but I’m also an overseas

Indian citizen. Then, as you can imagine, for me it has a special meaning. I’m very proud of my roots in Goa, where my… pic.twitter.com/wDMuNbzr3h

— ANI (@ANI) January 27, 2026

What Is Antonio Costa’s Goa Connect?

António Luís Santos da Costa, currently President of the European Council (a top EU position), is also the former Prime Minister of Portugal. He was born in Lisbon in 1961 to a Portuguese-French mother and a father of Goan heritage. Costa’s father, Orlando António Fernandes da Costa, was of Goan descent — his family hailed from Margao in Goa, which was part of the Portuguese Estado da Índia until 1961. Costa’s grandfather was born in Goa and spent much of his early years there. These ancestors were part of the Catholic Goan community under Portuguese rule — a group with deep cultural ties to Portugal.

He grew up in Portugal and built his political career there, but the Goan element of his family remains part of his personal narrative. In Goa and among some Indian diaspora circles, he’s affectionately called “Babush”, a Konkani term meaning a beloved young boy.

Orlando da Costa’s writings often reference life in Goa and Indo-Portuguese experiences, keeping the connection alive culturally. António himself has spoken about how Goa was always present in his father’s books, with memories of Konkani words, local food like sorpotel, and family traditions.

Costa has an ancestral house in Margao on Abade Faria Road, where his extended family — cousins and relatives — still live. He visited this house during a personal trip to Goa in 2017, meeting family members and spending time in his father’s childhood town.