Aníbal Cavaco Silva

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Aníbal Cavaco Silva (2008)

Audio file / audio sample Aníbal António Cavaco Silva ? / i [ ɐˈniβal kɐˈvaku ˈsilvɐ ] (bornJuly 15, 1939inBoliqueimein theLoulédistrict,Algarve) is aPortugueseconservative politician (Partido Social Democrata) and economist. From 2006 to 2016 he was thePortuguese President.

Education and professional activity

Cavaco Silva is the son of a tank attendant from a small village in the Algarve and grew up in the simplest of circumstances. After attending the commercial college, he studied economics , did his military service in Mozambique and then taught economics and political economy in Lisbon . Shortly before the Carnation Revolution he went to York , England, where he did his doctorate on "Taxes and the Oil Crisis".

He then taught at the Catholic University of Portugal and the New University of Lisbon and became director of the Research and Statistics Department at the Portuguese National Bank (Banco de Portugal).

After his temporary withdrawal from politics in 1995, he resumed teaching at the Catholic University and also became a consultant at the National Bank again (see below).

Cavaco Silva has published numerous books and articles on economics and is a staunch advocate of the free market economy and the stimulation of the economy through private initiatives.

Political activity

After the Carnation Revolution of April 1974, he joined the liberal-conservative Democratic People's Party (PPD) led by Francisco Sá Carneiro , which was renamed Partido Social Democrata ( PSD ) in 1976 . From 1980 to 1981 he was Minister of Finance and Planning in the Sá Carneiro cabinet. During this time he acquired the reputation of a liberal economic reformer. After Sá Carneiro's death, he left the cabinet and became a member of the National Planning Council. He also took on a professorship at the University of Lisbon .

After fierce power struggles within the party, he was elected chairman of the PSD on May 20, 1985 with an unexpectedly narrow majority. The PSD ministers subsequently resigned from the coalition cabinet of Mário Soares .

Prime Minister 1985–1995

He was Prime Minister of the country from November 6, 1985 to October 28, 1995. He twice managed to win an absolute majority in the Portuguese parliament . His ten-year term is the longest in the history of the democratically elected Prime Ministers of Portugal.

Radical economic reforms, tax cuts and the intensive economic promotion by the European Union after the accession in 1986 favored the economic growth of Portugal in Cavaco Silva's first term of office. However, he led a minority government under the tolerance of the Partido Renovador Democrático (PRD; German Democratic Renewal Party). For most of the votes, he could rely on the votes of the right-wing populist Portuguese People's Party , but he was still 16 votes short of a majority. Cavaco Silva could only rule if the 45 members of the PRD abstained. In 1987 a violent dispute broke out in Portugal over labor laws. However, the PRD withdrew his confidence and after a vote of no confidence , President Mário Soares, Cavaco Silva's long-standing adversary, scheduled new elections.

The 1987 elections brought Cavaco Silva a completely unexpected landslide victory. His PSD won 50.2 percent of the vote and 148 of the 250 parliamentary seats, while the socialists only had 60 seats. Communists and PRD only got four and seven seats respectively. It was the first time in the history of Portugal that a party could win an absolute majority. This seemed to end the era of political instability and uncertain majorities in Portugal. Cavaco Silva stuck to his liberal economic policy. Portugal gave Greece last place on the prosperity scale of the European Community . But there was also resistance: from 1988 to spring 1989, a wave of strikes shook the country. Cavaco Silva's opponents accused him above all of arrogance and an authoritarian style.

In the elections of 1991 Cavaco Silvas PSD was able to repeat the triumph of 1987 with 50.6 percent and 135 of 230 seats in parliament; the majority was almost as pronounced as it was four years earlier. During this legislative period, Cavaco Silva managed to integrate the escudo into the European currency system through strict austerity policies - a preliminary decision for inclusion in the euro zone . However, the strict austerity policy was extremely unpopular. It intensified the recession in the early 1990s with persistently high unemployment and was linked to allegations of corruption against some ministers. During this time Cavaco Silva continued his bitter power struggle with President Marío Soares. Worn down by this dispute, Cavaco Silva decided to give up his party offices and not run in the 1995 parliamentary elections. In the absence of a charismatic person at the top, the PSD lost the elections on October 1, 1995. In the 2005 general election, he refused to support the PSD candidate Pedro Santana Lopes .

Temporary withdrawal from politics

In 1996 he ran for president, but was clearly beaten by Jorge Sampaio . Thereupon Cavaco Silva withdrew from politics for the time being. Until 2004 he advised the board of directors of the Portuguese National Bank. He then taught as a professor at the Economics Faculty of the Catholic University of Portugal .

President from 2006

On October 20, 2005 Cavaco Silva declared his candidacy in the presidential elections on January 22, 2006, which he won in the first ballot with 50.6%. The left parties had put up several candidates, including Manuel Alegre and Cavaco Silva's old adversary Mário Soares .

Second term in 2011

Cavaco Silvas was confirmed in office on January 23, 2011 . He received 53% of all votes, while his challenger, the socialist Manuel Alegre , only got around 20% of the vote. He started his second term on March 9 with a speech criticized by the government camp. After two terms in office, Cavaco Silva was not allowed to run again for the office of President. He was succeeded in the 2016 presidential election in Portugal by former PSD chairman Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa .

Private

Cavaco Silva has been married to Professor of Portuguese Language and Culture Maria Cavaco Silva since 1963 and has a son and a daughter.

In his youth he was a national champion in the 400 meter hurdles, but now his sporting activities are limited to tennis , chess and gardening.

Awards

Web links

Commons : Aníbal Cavaco Silva  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portuguese President Cavaco Silva re-elected . ddp article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , January 24, 2011. Accessed January 24, 2011.
  2. ↑ Jornal da República: Decreto do Presidente da República nº 56/2012 de 19 de Maio , accessed on April 29, 2020.
predecessor Office successor
Mario Soares Prime Minister of Portugal
1985–1995 		Antonio Guterres
Jorge Sampaio President of Portugal
2006-2016 		Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
personal data
SURNAME Silva, Aníbal Cavaco
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Silva, Aníbal António Cavaco (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Boliqueime , Loulé County , Algarve