Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal

The Palácio das Necessidades , seat of the Portuguese Foreign Ministry

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal ( Portuguese : Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros , MNE ) is a ministry of the Portuguese government . It is the body responsible for Portugal's foreign policy .

Since the First Portuguese Republic proclaimed on October 5, 1910 , the ministry has its seat in the Palácio das Necessidades , formerly the residence of the Portuguese king .

history

Luís da Silva Mouzinho de Albuquerque became the first foreign minister under this name in 1830

In 1641, King John IV created a permanent post exclusively responsible for foreign policy within the Ministry of Internal Administration ( Ministério da Administração Interna ) with a State Secretary . With the reform of the internal administration in 1736, three state secretariats were created, in addition to the state secretary for foreign affairs and wartime affairs, the state secretary for internal affairs and the state secretary for naval and overseas holdings.

After a first temporary separation in 1801, the independent State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs ( Secretaria de Estado dos Negócios Estrangeiros ) was set up in 1822 as part of the reorganization of the State Secretariats in the course of the Liberal Revolution from 1821 .

From 1830 the name was changed first to Ministro e secretário de Estado dos Negócios Estrangeiros (Minister and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs), then to Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros (Minister of Foreign Affairs or simply Foreign Minister).

After the proclamation of the republic in 1910, the name remained. Only between May 15, 1918 and December 16, 1918 was the office temporarily downgraded to the rank of State Secretary, as Secretário de Estado dos Negócios Estrangeiros .

On April 6, 2002, the previous Foreign Minister ( Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros ) became the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Communities of the Portuguese Abroad ( Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros e das Comunidades Portuguesas ).

On March 15, 2005, the office was named Ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros (State and Foreign Ministry).

Since Prime Minister António Costa took office on November 26, 2015, the office has been renamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros ).

Augusto Santos Silva (2017), Acting Foreign Minister of Portugal

Official

Augusto Santos Silva ( PS ) has been Portuguese Foreign Minister in the Costa II cabinet since November 26, 2015 (as of October 2019).

→ Main article : List of Foreign Ministers of Portugal

structure

State Secretaries

Four state secretariats have been set up within the Foreign Ministry :

• Secretária de Estado dos Assuntos Europeus : State Secretariat for European Affairs
• Secretária de Estado dos Negócios Estrangeiros e da Cooperação : State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation
• Secretário de Estado das Comunidades Portuguesas : State Secretariat for the Portuguese Communities (Portuguese abroad)
• Secretário de Estado da Internacionalização : State Secretariat for Internationalization

organization

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is divided into the two areas of Direct State Administration ( Administração directa do Estado ) and Indirect State Administration ( Administração indirecta do Estado ), plus the Council of the Communities of the Portuguese Diaspora ( Conselho das Comunidades Portuguesas ) and the Portuguese Commission for UNESCO ( Comissão Nacional since UNESCO ).

Direct state administration

The main department of direct state administration are the Central Services ( Serviços centrais ). They are structured as follows:

• Secretaria-Geral (General Secretariat or General Secretariat). This includes:
  • the Diplomatic Council
  • the Council of Directors General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • the state protocol (for state visits, etc.)
  • internal administration ( Departamento Geral de Administração )
  • the Legal Department ( Departamento de Assuntos Jurídicos )
  • the Instituto Diplomático , which acts as a diplomatic school and supervisory body for the diplomatic representatives of Portugal as well as for the Diplomatic Archives and the Diplomatic Library ( Biblioteca e Arquivo Histórico Diplomático ).

• The main foreign policy department is the Direcção-Geral de Política Externa (General Directorate for Foreign Policy). It includes:
  • Political-diplomatic Coordination Council ( Conselho coordenador Político-Diplomático )
  • Inter- Ministry Commission for Foreign Policy ( Comissão Interministerial de Política Externa )
  • Authority for the Chemical Weapons Convention ( Autoridade Nacional para a Convenção sobre a Proibição do Desenvolvimento, Produção, Armazenamento e Utilização das Armas Químicas )
  • Authority for the Ban on Nuclear Tests ( Autoridade Nacional para efeitos do Tratado de Proibição Total de Ensaios Nucleares )

• The control department for the diplomatic missions abroad is the Inspecção-Geral Diplomática e Consular (General Inspectorate for the Portuguese diplomatic missions abroad)

• The main department for European affairs is the Direcção-Geral dos Assuntos Europeus (Directorate-General for European Affairs). It includes:
  • Inter- Ministry Commission for European Affairs ( Comissão Interministerial para os Assuntos Europeus )
  • Inter- ministerial Commission for the Water Use Agreements with Spain ( Comissão Interministerial de Limites e Bacias Hidrográficas Luso-Espanholas ), together with the Ministries for Environment and Marine Affairs
  • Portuguese-Spanish Commission for Cross-Border Cooperation ( Comissão Luso-Espanhola para a Cooperação Transfronteiriça )

• The main department for Portugal's consulates and the Portuguese diaspora is the Direcção-Geral dos Assuntos Consulares e das Comunidades Portuguesas (General Directorate for Consular Affairs and the Communities of Portuguese Abroad). It includes:
  • Inter- Ministry Commission for the Municipalities of the Portuguese Abroad ( Comissão Interministerial para as Comunidades Portuguesas )
  • Commission for the organization of the electoral registers for the municipalities of the Portuguese Abroad ( Comissão Organizadora do Recenseamento Eleitoral dos Portugueses no Estrangeiro )

• The Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal (Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade, AICEP EPE) is the Portuguese Chamber of Foreign Trade (organized as a public company); it is supervised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Indirect state administration

The main departments of the indirect state administration in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are:

• Instituto Camões, IP , the Portuguese Cultural Institute , an independent Instituto público out
• Fundo para as Relações Internacionais, IP financing funds for foreign policy initiatives, as an independent Instituto público out
• Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, IP Tropical Institute with an expanded area of ​​expertise in all areas of tropical knowledge, run as an independent Instituto público (since 2015 outsourced to the University of Lisbon )

Web links

Commons : Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Portugal

Coordinates: 38 ° 42 '24.6 "  N , 9 ° 10' 10.7"  W.