Manuela Ferreira Leite

Manuela Ferreira Leite (2008)

Maria Manuela Dias Ferreira Leite (born December 3, 1940 in Lisbon , Portugal ) is a Portuguese economist and politician. Because of her loyalty to principles, she is also called the “Iron Lady” ( dama de ferro ) in Portugal . Ferreira Leite was chairwoman of the Partido Social Democrata (PSD), the most strongly represented opposition party in the Portuguese parliament , from May 31, 2008 to spring 2010 .

Life

Ferreira Leite grew up in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon , where she visited the Liceus Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho and D. João de Castro , among others . She completed her studies in economics in 1963 at the then Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras (Higher Institute of Economics and Finance), now part of the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão , the Technical University of Lisbon . She achieved her licensing with 16 grade points and received various prizes because of the above-average grade.

She then worked as a university assistant at the Instituto Superior de Economia from 1966 to 1979, where she taught the subjects of "State Finance" and "State Economy". Since 2005 she has been visiting professor at the Instituto Superior de Gestão Technical University of Lisbon .

In addition to her academic career, she initially received a scholarship from the Economic and Financial Center of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian from 1963 to 1964 , in order to research various aspects of the state educational landscape as a commercial trainee between 1964 and 1972. During this time she got to know the future Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva , among others . From 1975 to 1977 Ferreira Leite headed the statistics department of the Instituto de Participações do Estado ("Institute for State Participations "). Cavaco Silva then brought her to the Banco de Portugal , where Ferreira Leite was the coordinator of the working group for public finances and capital management until 1986; from 2004 to 2005 she worked there again as a consultant. From 1986 to 1990 she headed the State Accounting Department of the Portuguese Ministry of Finance. In 1987 she was elected as a member of the Budget Committee of the Council of Europe , where she worked until 1992. In 1995 Ferreira Leite headed the Portuguese delegation to the 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing . Between 1998 and 2000 she was on the board of directors of the Instituto Superior de Línguas e Administração , and since 2006 Ferreira Leite has been the non-executive administrator ( administradora nicht executiva ) of Banco Santander .

Manuela Ferreira Leite's political career began when she joined the Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD) in 1985. Over two legislative terms, from 1991 to 1995 and from 1995 to 2000, she represented the party in the Portuguese parliament, the Assembleia da República . At the same time she was vice chairwoman of the parliamentary group from 1996 to 2001.

In 1990 she was appointed to the Portuguese government for the first time; from January 1990 to November 1991 she assumed the duties of Secretary of State under the second Cavaco Silva government . Under the third government of Cavaco Silva , she was deputy budgetary state secretary from November 1991 to December 1993, but after Roberto Carneiro's resignation she moved to the Ministry of Education and headed it until October 1995. After the Portuguese parliamentary elections in 1995 , after which the PSD was again an opposition party, she headed from 1995 to 1999 the Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Finance and Planning.

In 2002, the then Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso appointed her to the new government, she took over the finance department and was Minister of State at the same time, roughly comparable to the role of Deputy Prime Minister. However, after Barroso moved to the EU Commission in July 2004 and President Jorge Sampaio appointed Pedro Santana Lopes as the new Prime Minister, she initially withdrew from political life. Since 2006 she has been represented in the State Council ( Conselho do Estado ) of the Portuguese Republic. In May 2008, Ferreia Leite ran for the position of chairman of the PSD after his predecessor Luís Filipe Menezes resigned due to internal criticism. She won the internal party elections with 37.6 percent of the vote, beating the three other candidates Pedro Passos Coelho , Pedro Santana Lopes and Mário Patinha Antão . In 2009 she, along with the then Economic and Innovation Minister Manuel Pinho invited by Pinto Balsemão , participant of the Bilderberg conference in Athens .

On April 30, 1998, President Jorge Sampaio honored her with the Grand Cross of the Order of Henry the Navigator ( Grã-Cruz da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique ). For many years, Ferreira Leite worked in the Portuguese media landscape, including for the weekly Expresso and the daily newspapers Jornal de Notícias and Público . She is also a commentator in the program Falar Claro radio station Rádio Renascença .

The mother of three is divorced.

Honors

• 2011: Grand Cross of the Order of Christ

Web links

Commons : Manuela Ferreira Leite  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website by Manuela Ferreira Leite (Portuguese)
• Short biography (Portuguese)
• Overview of your work as a Member of Parliament on the Assembleia da República website (Portuguese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Günther Bading: Hope for "Iron Lady". In: Wiener Zeitung . June 3, 2008 (accessed November 6, 2013)
2. ↑ Manuela Ferreira Leite vence directas no PSD ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , [Manuela Ferreira Leite wins the PSD direct elections], Público , May 31, 2008
3. ↑ Bilderberg: Manuel Pinho descreve reflexão em que participou líder do PSD , May 31, 2008
4. ↑ Search form of the Portuguese Presidency for the award of state medals ( Memento of the original of June 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.