| Francisco Pinto Balsemão | |
|---|---|
| Prime Minister of Portugal | |
| In office 9 January 1981 – 9 June 1983 (2 years, 151 days) |
|
| President | António Ramalho Eanes |
| Preceded by | Diogo Freitas do Amaral (interim) |
| Succeeded by | Mário Soares |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 September 1937 Lisbon, Portugal |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Isabel de Lacerda Pinto da Costa Lobo (divorced) (2nd) Maria Mercedes Aliu Presas |
| Alma mater | University of Lisbon |
| Occupation | Journalist, newspaper editor, newspaper administrator, Chief Executive Officer of Impresa media group, Chairman of the European Publishers Council |
| Religion | Catholicism |
Francisco José Pereira Pinto Balsemão, GCC (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɾɐ̃ˈsiʃku ˈpĩtu baɫsɨˈmɐ̃w̃]; b. Lisbon, 1 September 1937), is a former Prime Minister of Portugal, who served from 1981 to 1983.
Contents |
He is the son of Henrique Patrício de Balsemão (Guarda, Guarda, 9 September 1897 – ?) and wife (married Lisbon, 21 May 1922) Maria Adelaide van Zeller de Castro Pereira (Sintra, 11 August 1897 – ?), granddaughter in male line of an adulterine son of King Pedro IV of Portugal. He is of Portuguese, Spanish, English, German, Dutch, French and Italian descent.
Being a licentiate in Law from the University of Lisbon, Pinto Balsemão's pre-political career was in newspaper publishing. After working as a journalist and then as an administrator of Diário Popular (the People's Daily in English) from 1963 to 1971, he founded the Expresso magazine in 1973 and continued to direct it until 1980. He is one of top managers and owners of Impresa media group.
Pinto Balsemão made his political debut following the Carnation Revolution in 1974 (this is not true, Pinto Balsemão was Member of parliament before the revolution (http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Pinto_Balsem%C3%A3o), when, together with Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Joaquim Magalhães Mota, Carlos Mota Pinto, João Bosco Mota Amaral, Alberto João Jardim, António Barbosa de Melo and António Marques Mendes, he helped to found the Social Democratic Party (PSD), of which he is currently member number 1. In 1975 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly, which was charged with drafting a new constitution and served as an interim legislature. Pinto Balsemão was chosen as a Vice-President of this body.
Following the victory of the Democratic Alliance (a coalition led by the PSD) in two parliamentary elections (in 1979 and 1980), Pinto Balsemão held senior positions in two cabinets led by Prime Minister Sá Carneiro.
When Sá Carneiro was killed in an air accident on 4 December 1980, the Social Democratic Party chose Pinto Balsemão to succeed him. Despite his reputation for competence, he was widely perceived as lacking Sá Carneiro's charisma. He had difficulty maintaining the level of support enjoyed by his party, which had been based to a large extent on Sá Carneiro's personal popularity. He also had to cope with friction within the Democratic Alliance, and found the Democratic and Social Centre leader, Diogo Freitas do Amaral, a difficult ally. These factors contributed to his defeat in the parliamentary election of 1983. He finally retired from Parliament in 1987.
Pinto Balsemão currently serves as Chairman of the European Publishers Council [1] and as Chief Executive Officer of Grupo Impresa in Portugal. He is also a member of the Bilderberg Group, and as such has attracted some controversy.
He was the founder on 6 October 1992 of Sociedade Independente de Comunicação (SIC), the first Portuguese private network.
He is also a Member of the Portuguese Council of State, elected by the Assembly of the Republic.
He married firstly and divorced Maria Isabel de Lacerda Pinto da Costa Lobo, daughter of Manuel da Costa Lobo Cardoso (Vila Real, Vila Real, 15 November 1907 – ?), Director-General of the Banco de Angola, and wife (married Luanda, 20 October 1934) Maria Amélia de Lacerda Rebelo Pinto (Quissol, Malanje – ?), married secondly to José da Franca de Horta Machado Guedes Leitão Cruz (born Lisbon, 18 October 1947), without issue, and had two children:
He married secondly Maria Mercedes Aliu Presas, of Spanish descent, and had two children:
Out of wedlock he had a son by Isabel Maria Supico Pinto (born Lisbon, 26 October 1942), second wife (married São Paulo, São Paulo, 9 June 1976) without issue of Vasco Maria Vasques da Cunha d' Eça da Costa e Almeida, 3rd Viscount of Maiorca (born Lisbon, Encarnação, 12 May 1923), natural daughter of Minister Clotário Luís Supico Ribeiro Pinto (1909–1986, 937th Associate of the Second Tauromachic Club, son of Liberato Damião Ribeiro Pinto and Maria Augusta Supico), by actress Maria Adelaide da Silva Lalande (Castelo Branco, Salgueiro do Campo, 7 November 1913 – Lisbon, 21 March 1968), wife of actor Ribeirinho: