Carlos Zorrinho (born 28 May 1959) is a Portuguese politician and university professor. He has undertaken the positions of Secretary of State, leader 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 ...

Parliamentary Group at the

Portuguese Parliament 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 ...

, and is currently a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for the S&D group.

Early life and education

José Carlos das Dores Zorrinho was born on 28 May 1959 in Óbidos, Portugal. He graduated in Business Management at the

University of Évora The University of Évora (''Universidade de Évora'') is a public university in Évora, Portugal. It is the second oldest university in the country, established in 1559 by the cardinal Henry, and receiving University status in April of the same ...

, where he later pursued a Doctorate Degree in Information Management. His academic career followed as a professor at the University of Évora, becoming Full Professor of its Department of Business Administration.

Political career

Career in national politics

Member of the National Council of the Socialist Party since 1990, he was elected for the first time for the National Parliament in 1995 for the electoral circle of

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old to ...

. He was a member of Parliament until 2000, becoming Vice-President of the Socialist Party’s Parliamentary Group in 1999. From 1997 to 1999, he coordinated the ProAlentejo - Programme for the Integrated Development of

Alentejo Alentejo ( , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond () the Tagus river" (''Tejo''). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo and Baixo Alent ...

. In 2000, he was elected Member of the National Council for Education. Later that year, he entered office as Secretary of State Deputy to the Minister for Home Office of the XIV Constitutional Government (2000/2002). In 2002, Carlos Zorrinho resumed his academic career at the University of Évora. After the Socialist Party won the 2005 general elections in Portugal, Zorrinho was appointed National Coordinator of the

Lisbon Strategy The Lisbon Strategy, also known as the Lisbon Agenda or Lisbon Process, was an action and development plan devised in 2000, for the economy of the European Union between 2000 and 2010. A pivotal role in its formulation was played by the Portuguese ...

and the Technological Plan (Portuguese: 'Plano Tecnológico'), which aimed at improving the country’s competitiveness through technology, innovation and knowledge. Under that capacity, he led the development of the Portuguese Digital Agenda, and he reported directly to the Prime-Minister of the XVI Constitutional Government (2005/2009). From 2009 to 2011, Zorrinho served as Secretary of State for Energy and Innovation, within the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Development of the XVII Constitutional Government. Returning to the Parliament in 2011, Carlos Zorrinho was elected Leader of the Socialist Party’s Parliamentary Group in September 2011.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–present

Following the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

, Zorrinho became a

, where he is Head of the Portuguese Delegation, Vice-chair of the Delegation for the External Relations of the European Parliament to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Member of the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

(ITRE), EUROLAT and the

ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly The ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly was created to bring together the elected representatives of the European Union (the Members of the European Parliament) and the elected representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states ("ACP c ...

. Zorrinho is also a substitute member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and the Parliament's delegation for relations to the

MERCOSUR The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Argentina ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, he is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, the European Parliament Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence and Digital and the European Internet Forum.Members
European Internet Forum.

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20120123012009/http://www.planotecnologico.pt/en/coordenators-office/about-us/national-coordenador/list.aspx * https://web.archive.org/web/20140327204105/http://www.dn.pt/inicio/economia/interior.aspx?content_id=1995121&seccao=Dinheiro%20Vivo * http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/nl/124739/CARLOS_ZORRINHO_home.html

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zorrinho, Carlos 1959 births Living people People from Leiria District University of Évora alumni Academic staff of the University of Évora Socialist Party (Portugal) MEPs Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) MEPs for Portugal 2014–2019 MEPs for Portugal 2019–2024