Manuela Ferreira Leite

Maria Manuela Dias Ferreira Leite ( born December 3, 1940 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese economist and politician. Because of their principled she is in Portugal also known as the "Iron Lady" ( dama de ferro ). Ferreira Leite was from 31 May 2008 until the spring of 2010 Chairman of the Partido Social Democrata (PSD ), the opposition party most strongly represented in the Portuguese Parliament.

Life

Ferreira Leite grew up in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, where she attended, among others, the Liceus Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho and D. João de Castro. She studied Wirtschaftswissenschaftenm she graduated in 1963 at the former Instituto Superior de Ciências e Económicas Financeiras ( Higher Institute of Economic and Financial Sciences ), now part of the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, Technical University of Lisbon from. Your Lizenziatur it reached 16 note points and was due to the above-average score different prices.

She then worked as Universitätsassistin at the Instituto Superior de Economia from 1966 to 1979, where she taught the subjects' public finances "and" political economy ". Since 2005 she has been a visiting professor at the Instituto Superior de Gestão Technical University of Lisbon.

In addition to her academic career, she was initially 1963-1964 scholarship from the economic and financial center of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian to explore 1964-1972 as a business trainee various aspects of the public education landscape. During this time she learned, among other things also know the later Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva. From 1975 to 1977 Ferreira Leite led the statistics department of the Instituto de Participações do Estado ( " Department of Government Investments" ). Then Cavaco Silva took them to the Banco de Portugal, where Ferreira Leite to 1986, holds the role of coordinator of the working group for public finances and economic capital; 2004-2005 she was there again worked as a consultant. From 1986 to 1990 she headed the Department of State Accounts 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, the Portuguese delegation to the 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing. Between 1998 and 2000 she was represented on the Board of the Instituto Superior de Línguas e Administração, since 2006 is not Ferreira Leite executive manager ( administradora não Executiva ) Banco Santander.

The political career of Manuela Ferreira Leite began with the entry into the Portuguese Social Democratic Party ( PSD) in 1985. Than two legislative periods of time 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 1996-2001 Vice- Chairmen of the Group.

In 1990, she was first appointed to the Portuguese Government, they took over for January 1990 to November 1991, the tasks of the Financial Secretary under the second government Cavaco Silva. Under the third government Cavaco Silva she was from November 1991 to December 1993 Deputy Financial Secretary, however, changed after the resignation of Roberto Carneiro into the Ministry of Education and forwarded this to October 1995. According to the Portuguese Parliament elections in 1995, after which the PSD was opposition party, she initiated by 1995 to 1999 the Parliamentary Committee on Economics, Finance and Planning.

In 2002, she summoned the then Prime Minister José Barroso in the new government, they took over the department of finance and was also Minister of State, roughly comparable to the position of Deputy Prime Minister. After Barroso However in July 2004 joined the EU Commission and President Jorge Sampaio Pedro Santana Lopes appointed as the new Prime Minister, she pulled back first from political life. Since 2006 she is represented in the State Council ( Conselho do Estado ) of the Portuguese Republic. In May 2008 candidate Ferreia Leite for the position of Chairman of the PSD after Luís Filipe Menezes predecessor had resigned due to internal criticism. She won the internal party elections with 37.6 percent of the vote, beating the other three candidates Pedro Passos Coelho, Pedro Santana Lopes and Mário Patinha Antão. In 2009, she was, together with the then Economic and Innovation Minister Manuel Pinho, at the invitation of Pinto Balsemão, participant in the Bilderberg Conference in Athens.

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 ). Worked over many years and Ferreira Leite works in the Portuguese media landscape, including for the weekly newspaper Expresso and the Jornal de Notícias and newspapers Público. She is also a commentator in the program Falar Claro radio station Rádio Renascença.

The mother of three has been divorced.

Honors

• 2011: Grand Cross of the Order of Christ