President Romano Prodi Prime Minister Antonio Guterres Party Socialist Party Preceded by Fernando Nogueira Education University of Lisbon | Prime Minister Antonio Guterres Role Portuguese Politician Preceded by Anita Gradin Name Antonio Vitorino Succeeded by Franco Frattini | |
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Preceded by Antonio Figueiredo Lopes Books A New Constitutional Settlement for the European People Similar People Pedro Santana Lopes, Mario Soares, Antonio Costa | ||
Antonio vitorino d almeida portugal 1974 catedral da angustia
António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino (12 January 1957 in Lisbon; [ɐ̃ˈtɔniu vituˈɾinu]) is a Portuguese politician and member of the Socialist Party (PS).
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Portugal's Antonio Vitorino wins election to head IOM
Career
Vitorino graduated in law from the University of Lisbon. A lawyer by training, he was first elected to Parliament in 1980. In 1983, he was Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, a junior minister role in the grand coalition government led by Mário Soares. After the government's defeat in the 1985 elections, Vitorino became a deputy secretary for the Governor of Macau. In 1989, he returned to Lisbon to become a judge of the Constitutional Court, ending his term in 1994.
In 1995, he became Minister for National Defence and Deputy Prime Minister in the first government of António Guterres. He resigned in 1997 for being suspected of tax evasion.
After being cleared of the charges, Vitorino was appointed European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, during the commission led by Romano Prodi. As a representative of the European Commission, he took part in the conversations that drew up the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Convention on the Future of Europe. At the Convention, he chaired a reflection group on the European Court of Justice.
When Guterres ruled himself out of the contest for the role of President of the European Commission in June 2004, he instead threw his support behind Vitorino. The post eventually went to José Manuel Barroso. In 2004, Vitorino refused to run for leader of the Socialist Party after the resignation of Ferro Rodrigues, despite being overwhelmingly the favourite candidate. José Sócrates become the new leader of the party instead of Vitorino, going on to win a majority in the 2005 general election.
Life after politics
In 2005, Vitorino became a partner at Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira & Associados, one of the most influential law firms in the Iberian Peninsula. Between 2006 and 2007, he served as member of the Amato Group, a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe into what became known as the Treaty of Lisbon following its rejection by French and Dutch voters.
From November 2008 until June 2009, Vitorino served as member of a six-member panel of EU experts advising the Bulgarian government. Set up by Bulgaria's Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, the advisory board was chaired by Dominique de Villepin and mandated to recommend ways to help the country adjust to EU membership.
Vitorino has been the President of Notre Europe, the European think tank founded by Jacques Delors, since June 2011. From December 2011 until May 2012, he served as member of the institute’s Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa group, a high-level expert group to reflect on the reform of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union.
Vitorino also has an ongoing role as commentator for RTP 1's programme Notas Soltas hosted by television journalist Judite Sousa.
Corporate boards
Non-profits
Personal life
Vitorino is married and has two children.