Sócrates, José

(Carvalho Pinto de Sousa)

(1957- )

   Politician, head of the Socialist Party, and prime minister of Portugal. Born in Oporto, Sôcrates lived his early years in Covilha, central Portugal. Trained as a civil engineer, Sôcrates' professional credentials became the subject of a heated political controversy after he became an important politician. The validity of his engineering degree, as well as the academic respectability of the private university at which he had received the disputed credential, were brought into question in the media.

   Sôcrates helped found the youth wing of the Social Democratic Party and, since 1981, has been a member of the Socialist Party.

   His specialty has been environmental affairs, and in the first government of Antônio Guterres, he served as undersecretary of state for the environment. He later became Minister for Youth and Sport in the second Guterres government in 1999. One of his main causes has been to ban smoking in public buildings and public transport and, in January 2008, a law was passed to this effect. (Sôcrates became the target of criticism when it was discovered that he had smoked on a flight from Portugal to Venezuela.) He again became Minister for Youth and Sports and helped organize the 2004 EURO cup (futebol) in Portugal. He won the post of secretary-general of the Socialist Party in 2004 with a strong vote, and he became prime minister of the XVII constitutional government in March 2005. He was also president-in-office of the European Union during the second half of 2007.