Sócrates I cabinet

Prime Minister José Sócrates

The 17th constitutional, freely elected Portuguese government under Prime Minister José Sócrates after the Carnation Revolution in 1974 is referred to as Sócrates I cabinet , in Portugal also XVII Governo Constitucional de Portugal , in German XVII. called the constitutional government of Portugal. It ruled from 2005 to 2009.

Parliamentary elections 2005

After President Jorge Sampaio dissolved parliament under the Pedro Santana Lopes government , new elections for the Assembleia da República were necessary. The parliamentary elections that took place on February 20, 2005 brought the previously opposition Socialists for the first time in Portuguese history an absolute majority of 46 percent or 121 of the 230 MPs. The Socialists replaced the Social Democrats as the strongest group. The Secretary General of the Portuguese Socialists, José Sócrates , was sworn in as Prime Minister on March 12, 2005.

Reign

When it was first introduced, the new government caused a sensation, since half of the ministers appointed by Prime Minister José Sócrates consisted of independents, and the office of foreign minister was even taken over by former Prime Minister Diogo Freitas do Amaral , a former member of the opposition CDS-PP , who, however, himself felt as "non-party". According to estimates, Sócrates wanted to put his government on the broadest possible political basis. Freitas do Amaral, who broke away from his party after the previous government under Barroso entered the Iraq war, was said to have had good contacts with the then US government. In addition to the independents, Sócrates partially occupied the government with ministers who were already in charge of the government under António Guterres . In total, only two women were represented in the government at the beginning.

One of the highlights of the first half of the legislative period under José Sócrates was the seventh presidential election of Portugal , in which the Portuguese people, for the first time, included a representative of the conservative camp, the Social Democrats and former Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva (50.59 percent), in the first ballot , elected President . The two socialist candidates lost with a good 14 ( Mário Soares ) and just over 20 percent ( Manuel Alegre ). Another high point was Portugal's presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2007 and the successful referendum on the legalization of abortion .

Several cabinet reshuffles took place during Prime Minister José Sócrates' tenure. After just over four months, on July 20, 2005, Finance Minister Luís Campos e Cunha officially resigned for private reasons, and the economist Fernando Teixeira dos Santos took his place. About a year later, on June 30, 2006, Foreign Minister Diogo Freitas do Amaral submitted his resignation, citing health reasons. His successor was the previous Minister of Defense, Luís Amado , and Nuno Severiano Teixeira , who was in charge of the Ministry of the Interior in Guterre's second government, took over the position of Minister of Defense . The Socialist Party nominated Interior Minister António Costa as a candidate for the early local elections in the Portuguese capital Lisbon in July 2007 , who then resigned in May 2007. Rui Pereira , a constitutional judge at the time, took over the post from Costa. The last cabinet reshuffle for the time being concerned the Ministry of Culture and Health. Since the health minister António Correia de Campos drew more and more criticism in the course of the implementation of his reforms and austerity programs, Prime Minister Sócrates dismissed him on January 29, 2008, the director of the children's clinic of the Garcia de Orta Hospital in Almada , Ana Jorge , became his Successor. The Minister of Culture Isabel Pires de Lima had submitted her resignation at the same time, the lawyer and previous head of the Fundação Berardo , José António de Melo Pinto Ribeiro , then took over the department. The opposition parties criticized the last cabinet reshuffle in particular because it was merely a "cosmetic reshuffle" and the really controversial cabinet ministers, such as Transport Minister Mário Lino , were not dismissed.

The reign of the first Sócrate cabinet ended on October 26, 2009, the day the second Sócrate cabinet was sworn in .

composition

Sócrates Cabinet - March 12, 2005 to October 26, 2009

Office	Surname	Political party
prime minister	José Sócrates	PS
Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Diogo Freitas do Amaral (March 12, 2005 - June 30, 2006)	independent
	Luís Amado (since June 30, 2006)	PS
Ministry of Finance	Luís Campos e Cunha (March 12, 2005 - July 21, 2005)	independent
	Fernando Teixeira dos Santos (since July 21, 2005)	PS
Ministry of Presidential Affairs	Pedro Silva Pereira	PS
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs	Augusto Santos Silva	PS
Ministry of National Defense	Luís Amado (March 12, 2005 - June 30, 2006)	PS
	Nuno Severiano Teixeira (since June 30, 2006)	PS
Ministry of Internal Administration	António Costa (March 12, 2005 - May 17, 2007)	PS
	Rui Pereira (since May 17, 2007)	PS
Ministry of Justice	Alberto Bernardes Costa	PS
Ministry of the Environment, Regional Development and Property Management	Francisco Nunes Correia	PS
Ministry of Economy and Innovation	Manuel Pinho	PS
Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries	Jaime Silva	PS
Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications	Mario Lino	PS
Ministry of Labor and Social Security	José Vieira da Silva	PS
Ministry of Health	António Correia de Campos (March 12, 2005 - January 29, 2008)	PS
	Ana Jorge (since January 29, 2008)	k. A.
Ministry of Education	Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues	independent
Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education	Mariano Gago	independent
Ministry of Culture	Isabel Pires de Lima (March 12, 2005 - January 29, 2008)	independent
	José António de Melo Pinto Ribeiro (since January 29, 2008)	PS

Web links

• Portuguese government website (Portuguese, English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ João Pedro Henriques and Ana Sá Lopes: Governo: Metade PS, metade independentes ( Memento of October 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) , [Government: Half PS, Half Independent], Público , March 5, 2005
2. ↑ ^{a b} Ralph Schulze: Party friends - no thanks , Der Tagesspiegel , March 7, 2005
3. ^ "Parity" in Portugal's new government ( memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , March 7, 2005
4. ↑ Portugal's future prime minister introduces the ministers , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , March 5, 2005
5. ↑ Sócrates propos a Sampaio a exoneração do ministro das Finanças , [Sócrates proposes Sampaio adoption of the Minister of Finance before], Público 20 July, 2005
6. ↑ Novos ministros tomam posse hoje , [New ministers take up their posts today], Público , 3 July 2006
7. ↑ Rui Pereira será o novo ministro da Administração Interna , [Rui Pereira becomes new Minister of the Interior], Jornal de Notícias , May 15, 2007
8. ↑ Remodelação abrangeu ministérios da Saúde e da Cultura ( Memento of May 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) , [Cabinet reshuffle includes the Ministry of Culture and Health], Público , January 29, 2008
9. ^ Cosmetic redesign of the cabinet in Portugal , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , January 31, 2008