Academic career
He holds two nationalities, Portuguese and Brazilian . He graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon and has an MSc in and Social Sciences from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. His academic career continued as an Assistant Professor in the Law School of the University of Lisbon. He did research for a at Georgetown University and Georgetown's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C.. He is a 1998 graduate of the Georgetown Leadership Seminar. Back in Lisbon, Barroso became Director of the Department for International Relations at Lusíada University . He also received an honorary degree from Liverpool University on the 3rd of July 2008.
Early political career
Barroso's political activity began in his college days, before the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974. He was one of the leaders of the underground MRPP . In an interview with the newspaper ''Expresso'', he said that he had joined MRPP to fight the only other student body movement, also underground, which was controlled by the Communist Party. In December 1980, Barroso joined the right-of-centre PPD , where he remains to the present day.
In 1985, under the PSD government of Aníbal Cavaco Silva , Barroso was named Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs. In 1987 he became a member of the same government as he was elevated to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation , a post he was to hold for the next five years. In this capacity he was the driving force behind the Bicesse Accords of 1990, which led to a temporary armistice in 's civil war between the ruling MPLA and the opposition UNITA guerrillas of Jonas Savimbi. He also supported independence for East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, then a province of Indonesia by force. In 1992, Barroso was promoted to the post of , and served in this capacity until the defeat of the PSD in the 1995 general election.
Prime Minister of Portugal
In opposition, Barroso was elected to the Assembly of the Republic in 1995 as a representative for Lisbon. There, he became chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. In 1999 he was elected president of his political party, PSD, succeeding Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa , and thus became Leader of the Opposition. elections in 2002 gave the PSD enough seats to form a coalition government with the right-wing Portuguese , and Barroso subsequently became Prime Minister of Portugal on 6 April 2002. As Prime Minister, facing a growing budget deficit, he made a number of difficult decisions and adopted strict reforms. He reduced public expenditure, which made him unpopular among leftists and public servants. On July 5 2004, having become -designate of the European Commission, Barroso arranged with Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio the terms of the cessation of his job as Prime Minister of Portugal.
In 2003, Barroso hosted U.S President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar in the Portuguese Island of Terceira, in the Azores, in which the four leaders met and finalised the controversial U.S-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Under Barroso's leadership, Portugal became part of the coalition of the willing for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
President of the European Commission
In June 2004, following his being proposed as a consensus candidate by the European People's Party, the European Council appointed José Manuel Barroso -designate of the European Commission. 22 July, the European Parliament endorsed him in the position by 413 votes to 251, with 44 blank ballots and three spoiled ones. He was due to take over officially from Romano Prodi on 1 November. This process was however delayed until 23 November due to problems regarding parliamentary approval of the Barroso Commission.
During his presidency, the following important issues have been on the Commission's agenda:
* The reform of the institutions
* The Bolkestein directive, aimed at creating a single market for services within the EU.
* Lisbon Strategy
* Galileo positioning system
* Doha Development Agenda negotiations
* European Institute of Innovation and Technology
Personal life
Son of Luís António Saraiva Barroso and wife Maria Elisabete de Freitas Dur?o , José Manuel Barroso married at the Lisbon Cathedral, Lisbon, on September 28, 1980 to Maria Margarida Pinto Ribeiro de Sousa Uva, born in Lisbon, Santa Maria de Belém, on November 25, 1955, with whom he has three sons: Luís , Guilherme and Francisco de Sousa Uva Dur?o Barroso.
Apart from his , Barroso is professionally fluent in , he speaks and and has taken a course to acquire a basic knowledge of .
1 comment:
Post a Comment