Paulo Portas
Paulo Portas | |
---|---|
Deputy Prime Minister of Portugal | |
In office 24 July 2013 – 26 November 2015 | |
Prime Minister | Pedro Passos Coelho |
Preceded by | Eurico de Melo |
Succeeded by | Position vacant |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 21 June 2011 – 24 July 2013 | |
Prime Minister | Pedro Passos Coelho |
Preceded by | Luís Amado |
Succeeded by | Rui Machete |
Leader of the CDS – People's Party | |
In office 21 April 2007 – 13 March 2016 | |
Preceded by | José Ribeiro e Castro |
Succeeded by | Assunção Cristas |
In office 22 March 1998 – 24 April 2005 | |
Preceded by | Manuel Monteiro |
Succeeded by | José Ribeiro e Castro |
Minister of National Defence | |
In office 6 April 2002 – 12 March 2005 | |
Prime Minister | José Manuel Barroso Pedro Santana Lopes |
Preceded by | Rui Pena |
Succeeded by | Luís Amado |
Member of the Assembly of the Republic | |
In office 1 October 1995 – 2 June 2016 | |
Constituency | Aveiro (1995–2015) Lisbon (2015–2016) |
Personal details | |
Born | Paulo de Sacadura Cabral Portas 12 September 1962 Lisbon, Portugal |
Political party | People's Party (1995–present) |
Other political affiliations | Social Democratic Party (1975–1982) |
Relatives | Miguel Portas (brother) Catarina Portas (half-sister) Sacadura Cabral (great-uncle) Maria Velho da Costa (godmother) |
Alma mater | Catholic University of Portugal |
Signature | |
Paulo de Sacadura Cabral Portas (born 12 September 1962, Portuguese pronunciation:
Early life
Paulo Portas was born in
Following the
Press career
At age 12 in junior high school, Paulo Portas is said to have launched a school newspaper called "Laughs and Smiles" (Risos e Sorrisos);
In the 1990s Portas became a TV personality appearing regularly on several Portuguese TV channels as a political commentator. He was a sporadic panel member in a popular weekly night TV talk show (Raios e Coriscos) and in the Portuguese edition of Crossfire.[10] In 2006, after his first stint as a government minister, he returned to TV with his own biweekly show (O Estado da Arte) where he commented on current issues.[11]
Political career
The formative years, 1974–85
Paulo Portas showed a precocious interest in politics and as a child engaged in lively political discussions with his elders.[1] In 1975 he joined the youth wing of the Democratic Popular Party (PPD), which in 1976 became PSD Social Democratic Party. He would later profess to have been a staunch follower of PPD's founder Francisco Sá Carneiro, who is said to have relished the views of the 14-year-old Paulo Portas and personally sponsored his full PSD membership in 1978. Sá Carneiro died in 1980 and, following a bitter loss in an internal election of the party's youth-wing JSD, Portas quietly left PSD in 1982.[6] He remained involved with politics through his popular opinion-columns in the conservative weekly newspapers O Tempo and Semanário.
Early political career, 1986–97
Paulo Portas took his first big step into politics in 1986 with his personal endorsement of presidential candidate
Affirmation as party leader, 1998–2001
In 1998, after the CDS-PP performed poorly in the 1997 local elections,[15] Portas made his move to control the party by first manoeuvering to get Manuel Monteiro to resign, and then by defeating his hand-picked successor who underestimated Portas by comparing him to Mickey Mouse.[16] On 22 March 1998, Portas finally became President of the CDS-PP after a bitter take-over that established Portas's reputation as a cunning politician who does not hesitate to remove those who stand in his way even if they had formerly been his friends or allies.[17] Upon taking over the CDS-PP, he immediately sought to energize the party and earn himself name recognition by campaigning in more media-friendly ways and soon became known by his appearances in public events that earned him the nickname "Paulie of the Market Fairs" (in Portuguese: "Paulinho das Feiras").[18] He is also said to have brought in political marketing experts to enhance his image and that of the party.[16] He was a leading voice against Portugal's "regionalization" and "legalization of abortion" in two 1998 referendums that did not come to pass.[19] In 1999, he headed the CDS-PP list to the European Parliament, got elected but only remained in Brussels less than six months.[20] In 2001 he ran for Mayor of Lisbon and was soundly defeated, but got enough votes to be elected member of the City Council. Despite running under the slogan "I shall remain" (in Portuguese: "Eu fico"), he left City Council shortly afterwards to focus on the 2002 elections.[14]
In 1993, Paulo Portas said of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa that he was an unreliable source for O Independente's, and had given an account of a political VIP dinner that had never taken place going as far as inventing that the soup served during the dinner was Vichyssoise.[21] Later, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in 1999 when he was leader of Portugal's Social Democratic Party (PSD), sought an elections alliance with Paulo Portas's CDS-PP that was initially agreed but collapsed shortly. Marcelo then had to resign from the PSD leadership.[22]
Minister of Defence, 2002-05
In the 2002 legislative elections, the CDS-PP won 8.7 percent of the vote and 14 Parliament seats, which were sufficient to form a government majority with the PSD that won the election.
Back in Parliament, 2006–11
In the 2005 early elections, the two incumbent coalition parties suffered a crushing defeat, with CDS-PP losing 60,000 votes and two of its fourteen seats in Parliament. Paulo Portas assumed the responsibility for the defeat and resigned from the party leadership but not from his seat in parliament. He failed to get his preferred successor (Telmo Correia) elected, but some of his staunchest party allies managed to remain in control of the party's Directorate (the "National Congress")[28] setting the stage for Paulo Portas to return in 2007 in what his brief successor José Ribeiro e Castro called "a coup d'etat."[29] Paulo Portas had accused Ribeiro Castro of being an ineffective absentee leader (for keeping his post at the European Parliament) and called for party elections open to all CDS-PP supporters gambling that he would capture the support of the less involved party members. Ribeiro e Castro questioned the legality of Portas' challenge but, in April 2007, he was soundly defeated by Portas who got 70% of the militants' votes and would remain as CDS-PP president until 2016.[30] For the next six years, Paulo Portas led his party in the opposition to the ruling Socialist Party (PS). His new strategy for the party was to focus on a few major issues (such as agriculture, tax cuts, fuel prices) in order for CDS-PP to retain conservative voters, who, in the past, supported CDS-PP but voted PSD at election time.[31] In 2009 he personally ran for local office in the small municipality of Arouca (population: 20,000) and was elected to the Municipal Assembly significantly boosting CDS-PP's votes in the region.[32] In 2006–07, just prior to regaining the party leadership, Paulo Portas again had been a leading 'No!' voice against the legalization of abortion in Portugal in the 2007 referendum that was won by the "Yes!" vote that reversed the "No!" outcome of the 1998 referendum.[33]
Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, 2011–13
In the 2011 elections, Portas's opposition strategies paid off and the CDS-PP achieved its best result in 30 years: 11.7% of the total vote. The winning party, the PSD, needed the CDS-PP to reach a parliamentary majority and the two parties formed a coalition government. By his own choice, Portas became Minister of State and of Foreign Affairs and secured two more minister slots for the CDS-PP, including the Minister of Agriculture position for his youthful female protégée
Deputy Prime-Minister, 2013–15
When Paulo Portas resigned from the government in July 2013, Prime-Minister Passos Coelho feared the end of his coalition government and negotiated with Paulo Portas his permanence in a higher capacity as
In 2015 Paulo Portas agreed to an electoral alliance between his CDS-PP party and its government coalition partner PSD party as to jointly maximize their numbers of elected members of Parliament on 4 October 2015 Portuguese legislative elections. The alliance (PAF, Portugal in Front) came first in the elections but fell short of a parliamentary majority. Despite upfront opposition from the new majority-holding parties, the PAF alliance accepted to form a minority government and Paulo Portas was re-conducted on 30 October 2015 as Deputy Prime Minister of Portugal's XX Constitutional Government. However, he stayed in office less than a month as his government's program was predictably rejected in Parliament and replaced by a Socialist Party government supported by the far-left parties.
Retirement from CDS-PP Party Leadership, 2016
Having ceased his functions as Deputy Prime-Minister on 26 November 2015, Paulo Portas presented himself in Parliament the following day to take up the position for which he had been elected on 4 October by the Lisbon electoral district.
Controversies
Ministry of Defence
In 2002, Portas became Minister of Defence and made a historic seafront fort of São Julião da Barra his "official residence".
The "irrevocable" resignation from Cabinet
In 2013, when Portas resigned "from the Government" he stated in his press
Personal life
Portas is a lifelong bachelor, who has never publicly assumed a romantic relationship and who invariably attends his many official functions unescorted or in the casual company of socialite women known to be attached to other men. He has no children but has expressed his wish to "become a father one day."
Honours
Foreign
- Mexico: Sash of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (7 October 2014)[63]
- Peru Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru (16 October 2016)[63]
- Poland: Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (16 July 2012)[63]
- Romania: Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania (16 October 2016)[63]
- Spain: Commander by Number of the Order of Civil Merit (17 August 1988)[63]
References
- ^ a b c (in Portuguese) Perfil: Portas, o homem para quem fazer previsões em política "é um grande atrevimento" Público (2 July 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Um político que de irrevogável só mesmo a contradição [Diário de Notícias] (12 August 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese)Perfil: Paulo Portas, ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros (17 June 2011)
- ^ a b (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas e António Pires de Lima Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Sábado magazine (5 November 2010)
- ^ a b (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas(Infopédia [Em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2013)
- ^ a b (in Portuguese) Ele ainda se reconhece no Portas do Independente(Publico) (2 February 2011)
- ^ A Nation Talking to Itself – O Independente (1988–1995)(2012)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Quando Portas escrevia que Cavaco "merecia um estalo"(Expresso-Revista) (18 May 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas, o Expresso e O Independente(O Informador) (10 January 2013)
- ^ "Paulo Portas". IMDb.
- ^ (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas em O Estado da Arte Archived 13 July 2013 at archive.today(Correio da Manhã) (26 February 2006)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas... Nao quer ser politico?
- ^ a b (in Portuguese) Quando Paulo Portas transformou o seu jornal num projecto politico? Archived 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b (in Portuguese) Presidentes do Partido – Paulo Portas Archived 7 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ (in Portuguese) [1] (CNE) (14 December 1997)
- ^ a b (in Portuguese) CDS á Lupa Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas: Um observador com "instinto de matador" (Jornal de Negócios) (2 July 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) O ‘remake’ do cinéfilo ‘Paulinho das feiras’
- ^ (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas critica Sampaio a propósito da regionalização
- ^ "Home | MEPs | European Parliament".
- ^ (in Portuguese) Se queres ganhar e não tens par: chama o Marcelo Archived 27 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine Ionline (22 October 2009)
- ^ (in Portuguese) As histórias desconhecidas de Marcelo Archived 3 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Sábado (28 November 2012)
- ^ (in Portuguese) [2] (CNE) (17 March 2002)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Portas satisfeito com o fim do SMO Archived 2 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine (Diário de Notícias) (20 November 2004)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Lei Orgânica n.º1/2003 (Diário da República)(23 May 2003)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Cavaco dá apoio ao investimento militar Archived 2 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine (Correio da Manhã)(23 May 2006)
- ^ Paulo Portas' CV (European Parliament)(20 March 2007)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Ribeiro e Castro é o novo presidente do CDS-PP (TVI online)(25 April 2005)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Ribeiro e Castro aceita ir a directas se Conselho Nacional assim o entender (Público)(29 March 2007)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Portas regressa em força à liderança (Correio da Manhã)(21 April 2007)
- ^ (in Portuguese) CDS diz que a agricultura é prioridade "absoluta" da próxima legislatura Ionline (18 July 2009)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Arouca- CDS reforçado na Assembleia Municipal graças a Paulo Portas Archived 6 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine [Diário de Notícias] (12 October 2009)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas em campanha sobre aborto (TVI online)(16 January 2007)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Mário Soares: "Portas deve demitir-se"(Expresso) (9 October 2012)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas e o primado da diplomacia económica(Sol)(2 July 2013)
- ^ a b (in Portuguese) Portas à Exame: "Não quero a troika cá para lá de junho de 2014" Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine(Expresso)(2 July 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Portas mantém diplomacia económica(Expresso) (25 July 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Governo concedeu 145 vistos dourados num investimento superior a 90 milhões de euros(Jornal de Negócios) (3 September 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) O ministro que faz sombra(Jornal de Noticias) (8 July 2012)
- ^ Kowsman, Patricia (6 July 2013). "Portuguese Prime Minister Reshuffles Cabinet, Ending Political Crisis". The Wall Street Journal. Lisbon. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- ^ (in Portuguese) [3] Público (Portugal) (31 January 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Edite Estrela: "Portas é o político mais poderoso do país" (Expresso) (27 April 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Portas inaugura um relógio com contagem decrescente para a saída da troika do país Archived 7 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine (SIC Notícias) (15 December 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Paulo Portas e Pires de Lima lideram missão ao México (Expresso) (26 October 2014)
- ^ (in Portuguese) [4] Público (27 November 2015)
- ^ (in Portuguese) [5] Público (28 December 2015)
- ^ (in Portuguese) [6]
- ^ (in Portuguese) O ESCUDO DO REINO, A FORTALEZA DE S. JULIÃO DA BARRA Operacional online (11 October 2011)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Forte S. Julião é um «ganho para o Estado» TSF online (1 June 2002)
- ^ World Business Briefing | Europe: Portugal: Helicopter Order Canceled The New York Times (15 August 2002)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Helicópteros causam braço-de-ferro entre Exército e Governo Público (3 December 2003)
- Expresso(30 June 2012)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Portugal vai receber em Junho de 2004 o primeiro helicóptero EH 101 Público (15 November 2002)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Apurada derrapagem de 120 milhões em negócio de helicópteros militares RTP Notícias (9 August 2012)
- ^ (in Portuguese) O comunicado de demissão de Paulo Portas na íntegra Público (2 July 2013)
- Expresso(5 July 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) "Foi muito difícil convencer Paulo Portas a voltar atrás" Diário Económico (14 August 2013)
- Expresso(8 July 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Portas aceita pagar "um preço de reputação" por "um futuro melhor" Jornal de Notícias (12 July 2013)
- ^ (in Portuguese) "Ser pai far-me-ia feliz" Expresso (14 June 2009)
- ^ (in Portuguese) [7]
- ^ (in Portuguese) http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/domingo/detalhe/x_files_paulo_portas___a_face_do_manobrador_politico.html
- ^ a b c d e "Cidadãos Nacionais Agraciados com Ordens Estrangeiras". Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- Paulo Portas. In Infopédia [Em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2008. [Consult. 2008-12-18]. <URL: http://www.infopedia.pt/$paulo-portas>.