Francisco Pinto Balsemão
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| Prime Minister of Portugal | |
| Order: | 113th (59th of the Republic, 11th since the Carnation Revolution) |
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| Term of Office | 9 January 1981 - 9 June 1983 |
| Predecessor: | Diogo Freitas do Amaral |
| Successor: | Mário Soares |
| Date of Birth | 1 September 1937 |
| Place of Birth: | Lisbon |
| Wife: | (1st) Maria Isabel de Lacerda Pinto da Costa Lobo (divorced) (2nd) María de las Mercedes Aliú y Presas |
| Occupation: | Journalist, newspaper editor, newspaper administrator, Chief Executive Officer of Impresa media group, Chairman of the European Publishers Council |
| Religion: | Catholicism |
| Political Party: | Social Democratic |
Francisco José Pereira Pinto Balsemão, GCC (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɾɐ̃ˈsiʃku ˈpĩtu baɫsɨˈmɐ̃ũ]; b. Lisbon, 1 September 1937), is a former Prime Minister of Portugal, who served from 1981 to 1983.
[edit] Background
He is the son of Henrique Patrício de Balsemão (b. Guarda, 9 September 1897) and wife (m. Lisbon on 21 May 1922) Maria Adelaide van Zeller de Castro Pereira (Sintra, 11 August 1897), granddaughter in male line of an adulterine son of King Pedro IV of Portugal. He is of sometimes remote and sometimes from many lines Portuguese, Spanish, English, German, Dutch, French and Italian descent.
[edit] Career
Being a graduate in Law from the University of Lisbon, Pinto's pre-political career was in newspaper publishing. After working as a journalist and then as an administrator of Diário Popular (the People's Daily in English) from 1963 to 1971, he founded the Expresso (portuguese newspaper) magazine in 1973 and continued to direct it until 1980. He is one of top managers and owners of Impresa media group.
Pinto Balsemão made his political debut following the Carnation Revolution in 1974, when, together with Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Joaquim Magalhães Mota, Carlos Mota Pinto, João Bosco Mota Amaral, Alberto João Jardim, António Barbosa de Melo and António Marques Mendes, he helped to found the Social Democratic Party (PSD), of which he is currently member number 1. In 1975 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly, which was charged with drafting a new constitution and served as an interim legislature. Pinto Balsemão was chosen as a Vice-President of this body.
Following the victory of the Democratic Alliance (a coalition led by the PSD) in two parliamentary elections (in 1979 and 1980), Pinto Balsemão held senior positions in two cabinets led by Prime Minister Sá Carneiro.
When Sá Carneiro was killed in an air accident on 4 December 1980, the Social Democratic Party chose Pinto Balsemão to succeed him. Despite his reputation for competence, he was widely perceived as lacking Sá Carneiro's charisma. He had difficulty maintaining the level of support enjoyed by his party, which had been based to a large extent on Sá Carneiro's personal popularity. He also had to cope with friction within the Democratic Alliance, and found the Democratic and Social Centre leader, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, a difficult ally. These factors contributed to his defeat in the parliamentary election of 1983. He finally retired from Parliament in 1987.
Pinto Balsemão currently serves as Chairman of the European Publishers Council [1] and as Chief Executive Officer of Grupo Impresa in Portugal. He is also a member of the Bilderberg Group, and as such has attracted some controversy.
He was the founder on 6 October 1992 of Sociedade Independente de Comunicação (SIC), the first Portuguese private network.
He is also a Member of the Portuguese Council of State, elected by the Assembly of the Republic.
[edit] Family
His first marriage was to Maria Isabel de Lacerda Pinto da Costa Lobo with whom he had two children: Mónica da Costa Lobo Pinto Balsemão, and Henrique da Costa Lobo Pinto Balsemão, now Director of Programs of SIC.
After his divorce, he married María de las Mercedes Aliú y Presas and had two children: Joana Presas Pinto Balsemão, and Francisco Pedro Presas Pinto Balsemão.
Having separated from his second wife he had his fifth child — Francisco Maria Supico Pinto Balsemão — with Isabel Maria Supico Pinto.
