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José Manuel Durão Barroso

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2011 | 700+ words | Copyright

José Manuel Durão Barroso , 1956–, Portuguese politician, b. Lisbon. A leftist activist while in law school, he became a Social Democrat in 1980 and was first elected to the Portuguese parliament in 1985. He served as foreign minister from 1992 to 1995, and in 1999 became Social Democratic party leader. As premier (2002–4) of a center-right coalition government, he enacted an unpopular austerity program to reduce the budget deficit and supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He resigned in 2004 after he was chosen as a compromise candidate to succeed Romano Prodi as president of the European Commission , the European Union's executive body. The signing (2007) and subsequent ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, a package of EU reforms, is the major accomplishment of his presidency to date. He was elected to a second term in 2009.

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