António José Baptista Cardoso e Cunha (28 January 1933 – 24 January 2021) was a Portuguese

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(PSD) politician. He was a government minister in the 1970s and 1980s, and then from 1986 to 1992 he served as Portugal's first

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Career

Born in

Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...

, Cardoso e Cunha studied at the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

and then worked as chemical engineer and in business administration. He was elected to the Assembly of the Republic in 1978, and in September 1978 he was appointed as State Secretary for Foreign Trade, a junior ministerial post in the Democratic Alliance government led by Alfredo Nobre da Costa. In November 1978, the new Prime Minister

Carlos Mota Pinto Carlos Alberto da Mota Pinto, GCC, GCIP, (; Pombal, 25 July 1936 – Coimbra, 7 May 1985) was a Portuguese professor and politician. Career He graduated as a licentiate in law and doctorate in judicial sciences from the Faculty of Law o ...

appointed Cardoso e Cunha as State Secretary for Industrial Renewal. From 1980 to 1981, Cardoso e Cunha served in the cabinets of Francisco Sá Carneiro and

Francisco Pinto Balsemão Francisco José Pereira Pinto Balsemão (; born 1 September 1937) is a Portuguese businessman, former journalist and retired politician, who served as Prime Minister of Portugal, from 1981 to 1983. Background He is the son of Henrique Patrício ...

as Minister for Agriculture and fisheries. When Portugal joined the

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in 1986, Cardoso e Cunha was nominated by the government of

Aníbal Cavaco Silva Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, GColL, GColIH (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist who served as the 19th president of Portugal, in office from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016. He had been previously prime minister of Portugal fro ...

to be Portugal's first member of the

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. He joined the first Delors Commission as Commissioner for Fisheries, and in 1989 was appointed to the second Delors Commission as Commissioner for Energy, Euratom,

small businesses Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ap ...

, staff and translation. He served until the Commission's term ended in 1993. He was then appointed as the first commissioner of

Expo '98 Expo '98 (1998 Lisbon World Exposition) was an official specialised World's Fair held in Lisbon, Portugal from Friday, 22 May to Wednesday, 30 September 1998. The theme of the fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future", chosen in part to c ...

. He was replaced in 1997 after a change of government, and became president of the state-owned airline TAP Air Portugal until 2004. In 2006, Cardoso e Cunha was declared bankrupt by the Lisbon Court of Commerce.

References

1933 births 2021 deaths People from Leiria University of Lisbon alumni Social Democratic Party (Portugal) politicians Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Government ministers of Portugal Agriculture ministers of Portugal Portuguese European Commissioners European Commissioners 1985–1988 European Commissioners 1989–1992 Businesspeople in aviation {{EU-stub