António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino (12 January 1957 in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

; ) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

lawyer and politician of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS).

Career

Career in national politics

Vitorino graduated in law from 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 ...

. A lawyer by training, he was first elected to the

Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: ''Assembleia da República'', ), commonly referred to as simply Parliament (Portuguese: ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral parliament of Portugal. According to the Constitution of Portugal, the parliament ...

, the national parliament, in the

1980 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1980. Africa * 1980 Angolan legislative election * 1980 Cameroonian presidential election * 1980 Cape Verdean parliamentary election * 1980 Gabonese legislative election * 1980 Guinean legislative ...

. In 1983, he served as Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, a junior minister role in the grand coalition government led by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th presid ...

. After the government's defeat in the 1985 elections, Vitorino became a deputy secretary for the

Governor of Macau The governor of Macau ( pt, Governador de Macau; ) was a Portuguese colonial official who headed the colony of Macau, before 1623 called captain-major ( pt, Capitão-mor). The post was replaced on 20 December 1999 upon the transfer of sovere ...

. In 1989, Vitorino returned to Lisbon to become a judge of the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

, ending his term in 1994. In 1995, Vitorino became Minister for National Defence and Deputy Prime Minister in the first government of

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

. He resigned in 1997 for being suspected of

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

Member of the European Commission, 1998–2004

After being cleared of the charges, Vitorino was appointed

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

er for Justice and Home Affairs, during the commission led by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...

. As a representative of the European Commission, he took part in the conversations that drew up the

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaim ...

and the

Convention on the Future of Europe The Convention on the Future of the European Union, also known as the European Convention, was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration. Inspired by the Philadelphia Convention that led to ...

. At the convention, he chaired a reflection group on the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

. When Guterres ruled himself out of the contest for the role of

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

in June 2004, he instead threw his support behind Vitorino. The post eventually went to

José Manuel Barroso José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and university teacher, currently serving as non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International. He previously served as the 11th president of the European Commi ...

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...

become the new leader of the party instead of Vitorino, going on to win a majority in the 2005 general election.

Career in the private sector

In 2005, Vitorino became a partner at Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira & Associados, one of the most influential law firms in the Iberian Peninsula. Between 2006 and 2007, he served as member of the

Amato Group The Amato Group, officially the Action Committee for European Democracy (ACED) was a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe into what became known as the Treaty ...

, a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the

Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

into what became known as the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member sta ...

following its rejection by French and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

voters. From November 2008 until June 2009, Vitorino served as member of a six-member panel of EU experts advising the Bulgarian government. Set up by Bulgaria's

Sergei Stanishev Sergey Dmitrievich Stanishev ( bg, Сергей Дмитриевич Станишев ; born 5 May 1966) is a Bulgarian politician who is serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He previously served as President of the Party of Eu ...

, the advisory board was chaired by

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Minist ...

and mandated to recommend ways to help the country adjust to EU membership. Vitorino was the President of

Notre Europe The Jacques Delors Institute (french: Institut Jacques Delors), which also uses the name ''Notre Europe'' (French for "Our Europe"), is an independent think tank based in Paris. Founded in 1996 by Jacques Delors, it aims to "think a united Europ ...

, the European

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

founded by

Jacques Delors Jacques Lucien Jean Delors (born 20 July 1925) is a French politician who served as the 8th President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. He served as Minister of Finance of France from 1981 to 1984. He was a Member of the European Par ...

, from 2011 until 2016. From December 2011 until May 2012, he served as member of the institute's Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa group, a high-level expert group to reflect on the reform of the

Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union The economic and monetary union (EMU) of the European Union is a group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages. There are three stages of the EMU, each of which consists of progr ...

. Vitorino also had an ongoing role as commentator for

RTP 1 RTP1 (''RTP um'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainst ...

's programme ''Notas Soltas'' hosted by television journalist . In 2017 Vitorino was part of the advisory boards of the "

International Migration Initiative The International Migration Initiative is an effort by the Open Society Foundations to promote harmony, equality and raise the quality of life, of immigrants all around the world. The Foundation realises the impact of migration on the global map. ...

" (

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

) and the "Transatlantic Council on Migration" (

Migration Policy Institute The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) is a non-partisan think tank established in 2001 by Kathleen Newland and Demetrios G. Papademetriou. The Migration Policy Institute is supportive of Liberalism, liberal immigration policies. About The Migrati ...

International Organization for Migration, 2018–present

In December 2017, the Portuguese government under the leadership of

António Costa António Luís Santos da Costa GCIH (; born 17 July 1961) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician serving as the 119th and current prime minister of Portugal since 26 November 2015, presiding over the XXI (2015–2019), XXII (2019–2022) and ...

put forward Vitorino for the post of Director General of the

International Organisation for Migration The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. The IOM was ...

(IOM), as successor of

William Lacy Swing William Lacy Swing (September 11, 1934 – June 12, 2021) was a diplomat and former United States Ambassador, and United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Under Secretary General. He was the Director-General of the In ...

. On 29 June 2018, the member states of IOM elected Vitorino as Director General, effective October 2018. He was chosen over American Ken Isaacs, who was eliminated in early voting rounds, and by acclamation over the runner-up, Laura Thompson of Costa Rica.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Banco Caixa Geral Angola (BCGA), Chairman of the Shareholders' General Meeting * Áreas Portugal, chairman of the Board * Siemens Portugal, Non-Executive Director * Brisa, President of the General Assembly (since 2007) * Novabase, Chairman of the Shareholders Meeting * Tabaqueira Indústria, Chairman of the Supervisory Board *

Banco Santander Totta Banco Santander Totta S.A., also known as Banco Santander (Portugal), is a subsidiary of Banco Santander in Portugal. Founded in 1988, it is currently the largest private bank in Portugal. In 2000, the then Banco Totta was acquired by Santander G ...

, Chairman of the Shareholders Meeting (2005-2016), Member of the Board of DirectorsAntónio Vitorino deixa os CTT a caminho do Santander Totta
''

Diário de Notícias ''Diário de Notícias'' () is a Portuguese daily newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal. Established since 1864, the paper is considered a newspaper of record for Portugal. History and profile ''Diário de Notícias'' was first published in ...

'', 30 May 2016. * CTT Correios de Portugal, S.A., Member of the Board (until 2016)

Non-profit organizations

International Gender Champions International Gender Champions (IGC) is a network of female and male leaders of member states, international organizations, and civil society working for gender equality. It is an initiative of Women@TheTable, and was founded in 2015 by Caitlin Kr ...

(IGC), Member (since 2018) *

, chairman of the Advisory Board * European Strategy Forum, Co-chairman (jointly with

Peter Ludlow Peter Ludlow (; born January 16, 1957), who also writes under the pseudonym Urizenus Sklar, is an American philosophy of language, philosopher of language. He is noted for interdisciplinary work on the interface of linguistics and philosophy— ...

and

Vladimir Drobnjak Vladimir Drobnjak (born 5 March 1956) is a Croatian diplomat who is the current Permanent Representative of Croatia to the United Nations, since 2013. Biography Born in Zagreb in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Drobnjak graduated ...

, since 2006) *

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...

(ECFR), Member of the Strategy Group of the Foreign Policy Scorecard * New Pact for Europe, Member of the Advisory Group *

World Justice Project The World Justice Project (WJP) is an international civil society organization with the stated mission of "working to advance the rule of law around the world". It produces the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, a quantitative assessment t ...

, Honorary Co-chair *

(MPI), Member of the Transatlantic Council on Migration (since 2007) *

Portuguese Bar Association The Order of Attorneys of Portugal ( pt, Ordem dos Advogados), also known as the Portuguese Bar Association, is the public association to which all attorneys-at-law belong in Portugal, founded in 1926. Its early origins are found on a private as ...

, Member * Fundação Res Publica, Member of the Board of Directors *

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

, Member of the European Group *

European Policy Centre The European Policy Centre (EPC) is a Brussels-based not-for-profit think tank on European Union affairs, founded in 1997. Activities Under the guidance of Herman Van Rompuy, the EPC's Chief Executive is Fabian Zuleeg, a German economist. Its ...

, Chairman of the Governing Board (2005-2009), Member of the Strategic Council * Fundação Arpad Szenes e Vieira da Silva, President (2007-2010)

Recognition

* 2002 – Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria

Personal life

Vitorino is married and has two sons.

References

External links

European Commission profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitorino, Antonio 1957 births Living people Portuguese European Commissioners Socialist Party (Portugal) politicians Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) 20th-century Portuguese lawyers People from Lisbon University of Lisbon alumni Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs