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José Manuel Barroso

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José Manuel Durão Barroso
President of the European Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office
23 November 2004
Vice PresidentMargot Wallström
Preceded byRomano Prodi
Prime Minister of Portugal
In office
6 April 2002 – 17 July 2004
PresidentJorge Sampaio
Preceded byAntónio Guterres
Succeeded byPedro Santana Lopes
Personal details
Born (1956-03-23) 23 March 1956 (age 68)
Lisbon, Portugal
Political partySocial Democratic Party (1976–present)
European People's Party
Other political
affiliations		Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat (Before 1976)
SpouseMaria Margarida Pinto Ribeiro de Sousa Uva
ChildrenLuís, Guilherme, Francisco
Residence(s)Brussels, Belgium
Alma materUniversity of Lisbon
University of Geneva
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
ProfessionProfessor
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website

José Manuel Durão Barroso (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ mɐnuˈɛɫ duˈɾɐ̃ũ bɐˈʁozu]; born 23 March 1956) is the 11th President of the European Commission. He served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 6 April 2002 to 17 July 2004. He assumed the position in the Commission 23 November 2004.

Academic career

He holds two nationalities, Portuguese and Brazilian (Portuguese by both jus sanguinis and jus soli and Brazilian by jus sanguinis). He graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and has an MSc in Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Geneva (Institut Européen de l'Université de Genève) in Switzerland. His academic career continued as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. He did research for a Ph.D 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.[1] Back in Lisbon, Barroso became Director of the Department for International Relations at Lusíada University (Universidade Lusíada). He also received an honorary degree from Liverpool University on the 3 July 2008 and from Chemnitz University of Technology on the 8th May 2009.[2] Congrats from plaet bollywood www.bollywoodmusic.com

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 Maoist MRPP (Reorganising Movement of the Proletariat Party, later PCTP/MRPP-Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers/Revolutionary Movement of the Portuguese Proletariat). 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. Despite this justification there is a very famous political 1976 interverview recorded by RTP in which he criticizes the bourgeois education system which "throws students against workers and workers against students", showing clear left-wing and maoist inclinations[3]. In December 1980, Barroso joined the right-of-centre PPD (Democratic Popular Party, later PPD/PSD-Social Democratic Party), where he remains to the present day.

In 1985, under the PSD government of Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva (now President of Portugal), 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 (answering to the Minister of Foreign Affairs), 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 Angola'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 Minister of Foreign Affairs, 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 (a professor of law), and thus became Leader of the Opposition. Parliamentary elections in 2002 gave the PSD enough seats to form a coalition government with the right-wing Portuguese People's Party, 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 vowed to reduced public expenditure, which made him unpopular among leftists and public servants.[citation needed]. His purpose was to lower the the public budget deficit to a 3% target (according to EU rules' demands), and official data during the 2002-2004 period stated that the target was being attained. Barroso did not finish his term as he had been nominated as President of the European Commission on 5 July 2004. Barroso arranged with Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio to nominate Pedro Santana Lopes as a substitute Prime Minister of Portugal. Santana Lopes led the PSD / PP coalition for a few months until early 2005, when new elections were called. When the Portuguese Socialist Party won the elections it was revealed that the budget deficit was not 3%, but had actually spiralled to an all-time high of 6.1%[4], which led people to criticize Barroso's and Santana Lopes' fiscal policies.

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 US-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.[citation needed]

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 President-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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

On 17 June 2009, EU leaders unanimously backed him for a second term as EC President, which the European Parliament was set to debate in July,[5] but with strong opposition to his reappointment among socialist and Green MEPs [6].

During his presidency, the following important issues have been on the Commission's agenda:

On 3 September 2009, Barroso unveiled his manifesto for his second term.[7] On 16 September 2009, after being renominated by the European Council, Barroso was reelected by the European Parliament for another five years.[8][9] He was the only candidate.[10] If he completes his second term he will become only the second Commission president to serve two terms, joining Jacques Delors.

One of his first tasks since being reelected was a visit to Ireland to persuade Irish citizens to vote "Yes" in the country's second referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon due to be held the following month.[11] Barroso was greeted by Irish Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea and Peter Power, the Minister of State with special responsibility for Overseas Development, as he got off his plane at Shannon Airport on the morning of 19 September 2009 before briefly meeting with the joint committee of the Oireachtas and meeting and greeting people at functions in Limerick's City Hall, University of Limerick (UL) and the Savoy Hotel.[11] He told The Irish Times in an interview referenced internationally by Reuters that he had been asked if Ireland would split from the European Union.[12] He also launched a €14.8 million grant for former workers at Limerick's Dell plant, described as "conveniently opportune" by former MEP and anti-Lisbonite Patricia McKenna.[13]

Controversies during EC Presidency

In 2005 the German newspaper Die Welt reported that Barroso had spent a week on the yacht of the Greek shipping billionaire Spiro Latsis. It emerged soon afterwards that this had occurred only a month before the Commission approved 10 million euro of Greek state aid for Latsis' shipping company - though the state aid decision had been taken by the previous European Commission before Barroso took up his post. [14]. In response to this revelation, Nigel Farage MEP, of the UK Independence Party persuaded around 75 MEPs from across the political spectrum to back a motion of no confidence in Barroso, so as to compel him to appear before the European Parliament to be questioned on the matter.[15] The motion was tabled on 12 May 2005, and Barroso appeared before Parliament as required at a debate on 26 May 2005.[16] The motion itself was heavily defeated.

In response to criticism for his choice of a gas-guzzling Volkswagen Touareg, amid EU legislation of targets drastically to reduce car CO2 emissions, Barroso dismissed this as "overzealous moralism".[17]

In April 2008, amid sharp food price rises and mounting food vs fuel concerns, Barroso insisted that biofuel use was "not significant" in pushing up food prices[18]. The following month, he announced a study that would look into the issue[19].

Personal life

Son of Luís António Saraiva Barroso (b. Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Ana, 22 June, 1922), of some minor rural nobility descent, and wife (married at the church of Peso da Régua, 4 February, 1952) Maria Elisabete de Freitas Durão (b. Vila Real, Folhadela, 19 December, 1922), José Manuel Barroso married in Lisbon, at the Lisbon Cathedral, on 28 September, 1980 to Maria Margarida Pinto Ribeiro de Sousa Uva (b. Lisbon, Santa Maria de Belém, 25 November, 1955), daughter of Luís Fernando Bravo de Sousa Uva (b. Faro, Sé, ca. 1926) and wife Maria Susana Teixeira de Azevedo Pinto Ribeiro (b. Lisbon, Anjos, ca. 1929), with whom he has three sons: Luís (currently studying for a PhD in Law at the London School of Economics), Guilherme and Francisco de Sousa Uva Durão Barroso.

Apart from his mother tongue, Portuguese, Barroso is very fluent in French[20], and also speaks Spanish and English and has taken a course to acquire a basic knowledge of German.[21]

References

  1. ^ http://www3.georgetown.edu/sfs/programs/gls/alumni/GLS Reunion 2005-3.pdf FLS Reunion 2005 (PDF file)
  2. ^ http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news314394
  3. ^ Barroso as a young, passionate Maoist student leader in 1976
  4. ^ http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3208.htm#econ
  5. ^ http://euobserver.com/9/28336
  6. ^ http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/greens-want-true-parliament-barroso/article-183237
  7. ^ Ian Traynor in Brussels (2009-09-03). "José Manuel Barroso unveils manifesto for second term". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-09-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ David Charter in Strasbourg (2009-09-17). "José Manuel Barroso wins second term as European Commission President". The Times. Retrieved 2009-09-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "PN MEPs welcome election of José Manuel Barroso". The Malta Independent. 2009-09-17. Retrieved 2009-09-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Euro MPs give Barroso new mandate". BBC. 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  11. ^ a b "No vote will affect confidence - Barroso". RTÉ. 2009-09-19. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  12. ^ Carmel Crimmins (2009-09-19). "EU's Barroso warns Ireland on commissioner right". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  13. ^ "European grant for former Dell workers". RTÉ. 2009-09-19. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  14. ^ "Barroso survives confidence debate over free holiday with Greek tycoon - Europe, World - The Independent". News.independent.co.uk. 2005-05-26. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  15. ^ "Bloomberg.com". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  16. ^ "Europe | Barroso rebuffs yacht questions". BBC News. 2005-05-25. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  17. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6432995.stm
  18. ^ http://euobserver.com/9/25957
  19. ^ http://www.transportenvironment.org/News/2008/5/Barroso-orders-study-on-biofuelsfood-link/
  20. ^ http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x624j8_barroso-pour-une-tva-reduite_news
  21. ^ Barroso speaking French, Spanish, English and German Les vidéos du président Barroso, Commission européenne, Bruxelles
Wikimedia Commons has media related to José Manuel Durão Barroso.
Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Portugal
2002–2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the European Commission
2004–present 		Incumbent

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