Place of Birth. Education. Born in Lisbon (Portugal). In 1978 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. In 1981 he received a master's degree in political science from the University of Geneva. Later he received a Ph.D. from the largest American Catholic Georgetown University. Barroso is an honorary doctor of a number of European universities. He took short courses at Columbia University in New York, the International University in Luxembourg and the European University in Florence.
Career. He taught at the Faculty of Law at the University of Lisbon, was a teaching assistant at the University of Geneva, visiting professor at Georgetown University, and headed the Department of International Relations at the private University of Lisbon. In 1979 he founded the Association of Universities for Contemporary European Studies.
He became interested in politics after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, during which the fascist regime was overthrown in Portugal. Barroso joined a left-wing Maoist group and participated in student strikes and rallies. He severed ties with the Maoists in 1977.
In 1980 he joined one of the most influential center-right Social Democratic Party in the country.
In 1985, he became Deputy Secretary of State at the Ministry of the Interior (Social Democratic government).
In 1984, he received the post of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
1992-1995 - Foreign Secretary. After the defeat of the Social Democrats in the elections, he became dean of the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Lisbon. In addition, in 1995-1999. Barroso was the head of the Faculty of International Relations at Luciada University.
1995-1996 - Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Portuguese Parliament. In general, he was elected to Parliament six times, since 1985.
In 1999 he was elected chairman of the Social Democratic Party and became the leader of the opposition. In 2002, he returned the party to power. He was re-elected as head of the party three times.
1999-2002 - Vice-President of the European People's Party.
2001-2005 - Vice-President of the International Party of Democrats-Centrists.
2002-2004 - Prime Minister of Portugal
From November 23, 2004 to November 1, 2014 - the head of the European Commission (the European Parliament approved the candidacy of Barroso again on September 16, 2009).
Author of numerous publications on politics, international relations, the European Union.
Views and assessments. Despite Barroso's successes on the political stage in Portugal and the EU, he was often described in the press as a weak politician who did not know how to communicate. He is also characterized as a staunch European and a friend of the United States. He supported the US invasion of Iraq, although he later criticized the expansion.
Barroso's reforms, aimed at keeping the state budget deficit within the 3% set by the European Union, provoked mass protests.
Barroso since the late 1980s has been involved in international diplomatic peacekeeping missions in Angola, East Timor, Congo, the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Tanzania and Libya. In addition, he paid attention to the situation of the unrecognized republics on the territory of the former USSR: South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria. He was against the recognition of their independence on the basis of referendums held within these countries, but supported the independence proclaimed by Montenegro in 2006. After the conflict in South Ossetia in 2008, Barroso participated in negotiations on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Georgia.
Under Barroso, the European Union was replenished with Romania and Bulgaria, under him negotiations were held on Turkey's accession to the EU, and referendums on the adoption of the European Constitution were unsuccessful.
After the start of the global financial crisis in the fall of 2008, he announced that the main measure to combat it should be to reduce social security spending. Left factions of the European Parliament accuse Barroso of supporting market liberalism, which caused the crisis.
In 2006, European Voice magazine named Barroso "European of the Year".
Awards. Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great (Lithuania), awarded the Bulgarian State Order "Stara Planina" I degree.
Family. Married to Margarida Souza Uva. There are three sons - Luis, Guilherme and Francisco.
Hobby. Philosophy of Peter Sloterdijk.
03/22/2021