Pedro Santana Lopes

Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes (born June 29, 1956) is a Portuguese politician, and was Prime Minister of Portugal in (2004 and 2005). He is currently a Member of the Portuguese Parliament.

Biography

Santana Lopes was born in Lisbon, and graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon, where he was leader of the students Union. He joined the Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD) in 1976, and has remained a member ever since.

Related Topics:
Lisbon - University of Lisbon - Social Democratic Party - 1976

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In 1979, he became legal advisor to Prime Minister Francisco Sá Carneiro, and has presented himself as a follower of his for all his political life.

Related Topics:
1979 - Francisco Sá Carneiro

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In 1986, he became Assistant State Secretary to Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, an office he left the next year to lead to PSD list to the European Parliament, where he remained for two years of his five-year-teem.

Related Topics:
1986 - Aníbal Cavaco Silva - European Parliament

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In 1991, Cavaco Silva appointed him Secretary of State for Culture. Leaving office, he became president of Sporting Clube de Portugal, and later the Mayor of Figueira da Foz (the only time that he has ever completed a term in office) and then of Lisbon. During this period he also earned a living as a sports and political commentator; in 1998, he announced his withdrawal from politics, following a comical sketch in private TV station which presented him and his private life in a very unfavourable light.

Related Topics:
1991 - Secretary of State - Culture - Sporting Clube de Portugal - Mayor - Figueira da Foz - Lisbon - 1998

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After three unsuccessful attempts to become leader of his party, Santana Lopes finally rose to vice-president under José Manuel Durão Barroso, a man who had once called him "a mix of Zandinga and Gabriel Alves." When Durão Barroso July 2004 resigned from his office as Prime Minister and party leader to take up the Presidency of the European Commission in early July 2004, Santana Lopes became the head of the PSD. Because the PSD was the major partner in the coalition government at the time, the Party proposed Santana Lopes for the post of Prime Minister, a position to which he was formally invited by president Jorge Sampaio on July 12 2004.

Related Topics:
José Manuel Durão Barroso - July 2004 - Presidency - European Commission - 2004 - Coalition government - Jorge Sampaio - July 12

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