XVIII Constitutional Government of Portugal

Last updated

XVIII Constitutional Government of Portugal
Flag of Portugal.svg
Cabinet of Portugal
Jose Socrates cropped from Dmitry Medvedev in Portugal 20 November 2010-2 (cropped).png
Prime Minister José Socrates
Date formed26 October 2009 (2009-10-26)
Date dissolved21 June 2011 (2011-06-21) (1 year, 7 months and 26 days)
People and organisations
President of the Republic Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Prime Minister José Sócrates
No. of ministers16 ministers
Member party Socialist Party (PS)
Status in legislature Minority government
Opposition parties
History
Elections 2009 Portuguese legislative election
(27 September 2009)
Predecessor XVII Constitutional Government of Portugal
Successor XIX Constitutional Government of Portugal

The XVIII Constitutional Government of Portugal (Portuguese: XVIII Governo Constitucional de Portugal) was the 18th government of the Third Portuguese Republic, under the Portuguese Constitution of 1976. It was in office from 26 October 2009 to 21 June 2011, and was formed by the members of the Socialist Party (PS). José Sócrates, leader of the PS, served as Prime Minister. [1]

Contents

Composition

The government was composed of the Prime Minister and 16 ministries comprising ministers, secretaries and under-secretaries of state.

OfficeMinisterPartyStart of termEnd of term
Prime Minister Jose Socrates cropped from Dmitry Medvedev in Portugal 20 November 2010-2 (square).png José Sócrates
PS 26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Luis Amado (square).JPEG Luís Amado
PS26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of State and Finance Teixeira dos Santos-2.jpg Fernando Teixeira dos Santos
Independent26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Presidency Pedro Silva Pereira, Festa de Natal do PS Montalegre de 2015 (square).png Pedro Silva Pereira
PS26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of National Defense Augusto Santos Silva September 2016 (29654321765) (square).jpg Augusto Santos Silva
PS26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Internal Administration Rui Pereira
Independent26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Justice Alberto Martins
PS26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Development HANDSHAKE 2016-07-14 (28022017630) (square).jpg José António Vieira da Silva
PS26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries António Serrano
Independent26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications António Mendonça
Independent26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Dulce Pássaro
Independent26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity Helena André
PS26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Health Ana Jorge (square).png Ana Jorge
Independent26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Education Isabel Alcada 2011 (square).jpg Isabel Alçada
Independent26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education JoseMarianoGago (cropped).jpg Mariano Gago
Independent26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Culture Gabriela Canavilhas - VII Reuniao de Ministros da Cultura da CPLP, Sintra, Portugal, 18 de Junho de 2010 (square).png Gabriela Canavilhas
PS26 October 200921 June 2011
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Jorge Lacão
PS26 October 200921 June 2011

Events

In 2008–09, with the Great Recession starting to hit Portugal and facing recession and high unemployment, [2] austerity was waned as part of the European economic stimulus plan. [3] Nevertheless, support for Sócrates and the Socialists eroded and the ruling party lost its majority in the 2009 election. [2] The second government of José Sócrates faced a deterioration of the economic and financial state of the country, with skyrocketing deficit and growing debt. [2] Austerity was resumed in 2010 while the country entered a hard financial crisis in the context of the European debt crisis. [4]

On 23 March 2011, Sócrates submitted his resignation to President Aníbal Cavaco Silva after the Parliament rejected a new austerity package (the fourth in a year), leading to the 2011 snap election. Financial status of the country deteriorated and on 6 April Sócrates caretaker government requested a bail-out program which was conceded. The €78 billion IMF/European Union bailout to Portugal thus started and would last until May 2014. Sócrates lost the snap election held on 5 June 2011 and resigned as Secretary-General of the Socialist Party. [5] For most of his political career, Sócrates was associated to several corruption cases, notably Independente University and Freeport cases. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Portugal</span>

Politics in Portugal operates as a unitary multi-party semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Portugal is the head of government, and the President of Portugal is the non-executive head of state which, although it is a somewhat ceremonial figure, has some significant political powers they exercise often. Executive power is exercised by the Government, whose leader is the prime minister. Legislative power is primarily vested in the Assembly of the Republic, although the government is also able to legislate on certain matters. The Judiciary of Portugal is independent of the executive and the legislature. The President exerts a sort of "moderating power", not easily classified into any of the traditional three branches of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Party (Portugal)</span> Centre-left political party in Portugal

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel by militants who were at the time with the Portuguese Socialist Action. The PS is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists, and has eight members in the European Parliament within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group during the 10th European Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Democratic Party (Portugal)</span> Centre-left political party in Portugal

The Social Democratic Party is a liberal-conservative political party in Portugal that is currently the country's ruling party. Commonly known by its colloquial initials PSD, on ballot papers its initials appear as its official form PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, the Democratic People's Party. A party of the centre-right, the PSD is one of the two major parties in Portuguese politics, its rival being the Socialist Party (PS) on the centre-left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Left Bloc (Portugal)</span> Left-wing political party in Portugal

The Left Bloc, colloquially shortened as O Bloco, is a left-wing populist and democratic socialist political party in Portugal founded in 1999. It is currently led by Mariana Mortágua.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">António Costa</span> Incoming president of the European Council and former prime minister of Portugal

António Luís Santos da Costa is a Portuguese lawyer and politician who served as the 118th prime minister of Portugal from 2015 to 2024, presiding over the XXI (2015–2019), XXII (2019–2022) and XXIII Constitutional Governments (2022–2024). Following this, Costa will take up the post of President of the European Council in December 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Sócrates</span> Prime Minister of Portugal from 2005 to 2011

José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, commonly known as José Sócrates, is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he acted as the president-in-office of the Council of the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 Portuguese legislative election</span>

The 2005 Portuguese legislative election took place on 20 February. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernando Teixeira dos Santos</span> Portuguese economist and academic (born 1951)

Fernando Teixeira dos SantosGOIH is a Portuguese economist and professor. He was Minister of Finance in the XVII and XVIII Constitutional Government of Portugal, led by José Sócrates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Portuguese Republic</span> Portuguese state since 1974

The Third Portuguese Republic is a period in the history of Portugal corresponding to the current democratic regime installed after the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, that put an end to the paternal autocratic regime of Estado Novo of António de Oliveira Salazar and Marcelo Caetano. It was initially characterized by constant instability and was threatened by the possibility of a civil war during the early post-revolutionary years. A new constitution was drafted, censorship was prohibited, free speech declared, political prisoners were released and major Estado Novo institutions were closed. Eventually the country granted independence to its African colonies and begun a process of democratization that led to the accession of Portugal to the EEC in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Portuguese legislative election</span>

The 2009 Portuguese legislative election was held on 27 September, to renew all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. The Socialist Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister José Sócrates, won the largest number of seats, but didn't repeat the overall majority they gained in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel Pinho</span>

Manuel António Gomes de Almeida de Pinho is a former Portuguese Minister of Economy and Innovation (2005–09) in the José Sócrates cabinet, who subsequently became an energy policy academic (2010–17) under circumstances that led to indictments in Portugal in 2017 and 2019, to house arrest since 2021, and to multiple charges of passive corruption, tax fraud, and money laundering in 2022. According to those charges, Pinho received, while in office, at least 4.5 million euros in secret monthly offshore payments from his prior and subsequent boss Ricardo Espírito Santo Salgado whose Espírito Santo Financial Group benefited from several of Pinho's decisions as minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedro Passos Coelho</span> Prime Minister of Portugal from 2011 to 2015

Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho is a Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the 117th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 2015. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) between 2010 and 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Portuguese legislative election</span>

The 2011 Portuguese legislative election was held on 5 June, to elect all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. Pedro Passos Coelho led the centre-right Social Democratic Party to victory over the Socialist Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister José Sócrates. Despite a historically low turnout of less than 60 percent of registered voters, the right-wing won a clear mandate, winning nearly 130 MPs, more than 56 percent of the seats, and just over 50 percent of the vote. While the People's Party, continuing the trend they began in 2009, earned their best score since 1983, the Social Democrats exceeded the expected result in the opinion polls and won the same number of seats as they did in 2002, when the PSD was led by José Manuel Durão Barroso. Of the twenty districts of the country, Pedro Passos Coelho's party won seventeen, including Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Santarém and the Azores, that tend to favor the Socialist Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Portuguese legislative election</span> Legislative election held in Portugal

The 2015 Portuguese legislative election was held on 4 October. All 230 seats of the Assembly of the Republic were in contention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">António José Seguro</span> Portuguese politician

António José Martins Seguro is a Portuguese politician for the Socialist Party (PS). Seguro was Secretary General of the PS from 2011 until September 2014, and he was the leader of the largest opposition party in the Portuguese Parliament.

The 2010–2014 Portuguese financial crisis was part of the wider downturn of the Portuguese economy that started in 2001 and possibly ended between 2016 and 2017. The period from 2010 to 2014 was probably the hardest and more challenging part of the entire economic crisis; this period includes the 2011–14 international bailout to Portugal and was marked by intense austerity policies, more intense than the wider 2001-2017 crisis. Economic growth stalled in Portugal between 2001 and 2002, and following years of internal economic crisis, the worldwide Great Recession started to hit Portugal in 2008 and eventually led to the country being unable to repay or refinance its government debt without the assistance of third parties. To prevent an insolvency situation in the debt crisis, Portugal applied in April 2011 for bail-out programs and drew a cumulated €78 billion from the IMF, the EFSM, and the EFSF. Portugal exited the bailout in May 2014, the same year that positive economic growth re-appeared following three years of recession. The government achieved a 2.1% budget deficit in 2016 and in 2017 the economy grew 2.7%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Luís Albuquerque</span> Portuguese politician

Maria Luís Casanova Morgado Dias de Albuquerque is a Portuguese politician. She served as Minister of State and Finance between 2013 and 2015.

The Economic Adjustment Programme for Portugal, usually referred to as the Bailout programme, is a Memorandum of understanding on financial assistance to the Portuguese Republic in order to cope with the 2010–14 Portuguese financial crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2026 Portuguese presidential election</span>

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Portugal in January 2026. The elections will elect the successor to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who is barred from running for a third term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedro Nuno Santos</span> Portuguese politician (born 1977)

Pedro Nuno de Oliveira Santos is a Portuguese economist and politician, who is the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party. Santos previously held positions in the Portuguese Government under António Costa, first as Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, from November 2015 to February 2019, and afterwards as Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, from February 2019 to December 2022.

References

  1. "Taking possession of the 18th Constitutional Government, (in Portuguese),". Republica Portuguesa. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Portugal > Sovereign debt crisis". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  3. Peres Jorge, Rui (30 May 2017). "2009: O procedimento que ensombra o país há oito anos" [2009: the procedure that haunts the country for eight years] (in Portuguese). Jornal de Negócios. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  4. "Sócrates dá primeira entrevista após aprovação do pacote de austeridade" [Sócrates gives first interview following approval of the austerity package] (in Portuguese). Jornal de Negócios. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  5. "Socrates demite-se". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 5 June 2011. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  6. Gomes, Margarida (22 November 2014). "José Sócrates: uma carreira cheia de suspeitas" [José Sócrates: a career full of suspicions]. Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 August 2018.