Francisco Louçã

Francisco Anacleto Louçã (born 12 November 1956 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese economist and politician of the Bloco de Esquerda ( Left Bloc ) and Member of Parliament ( Assembleia da República ). He is one of the founders of the party.

Political career

In the 70s he was in the student resistance movement against the fascist dictatorship ( Estado Novo) in Portugal active and briefly detained. In 1973 he joined the Trotskyist League Comunista Ista International (LCI ) at. After the Carnation Revolution originated in 1979 from a merger of LCI and also the Trotskyist Partido Revolucionario dos Trabalhadores (PRT ), the Partido Socialista Revolucionario ( PSR). The merger with other left parties came into being in 1999, the Bloco de Esquerda. In 1999 he was first elected as Members of Parliament. In the following elections in 2002 and 2005, he was re-elected each. In the debate on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, he has spoken out against the submitted design.

In 2006 he applied unsuccessfully for the office of President of the Republic (5.3% of the vote).

Louçã was founding chairman of the Bloco and was this before until 11 November 2012. In 2012, he applied no more for this position, his successors are Catarina Martins and João Semedo.

Scientific career

Francisco Louçã is professor at the Economics Institute of the Technical University of Lisbon (Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, ISEG ). He has been a visiting professor in Germany, Switzerland and the USA and is a member of the American Association of Economists.

He also has worked as a freelance writer for various publications.