Joaquim Miranda (7 September 1950 – 17 June 2006) was a Portuguese economist and politician, a former member of 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 of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. He was born in Portalegre, in the southern region 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 ...

. Joaquim Miranda was a member of the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...

since the 1970s, and was elected to several political jobs. Between 1979 and 1985, he was an alderman in the

Municipal Chamber A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of his hometown, Portalegre. Between 1980 and 1986, he was also a member of the

. Inside the Portuguese Communist Party, Miranda was a member of the Central Committee and of the Regional Committee of Portalegre. In his last years, he left the Central Committee and became a member of the reformist group Renovação Comunista, which criticizes the Party's political orientation.

Tasks in the European Parliament

When Portugal joined the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, in 1986, the Communist Party included his name in the list of the Portuguese representatives in the

. In July of the next year, the first Portuguese European Parliament election was held and Miranda was among the three MEPs elected by the Unitary Democratic Coalition, where the Portuguese Communist Party was included. He continued to be elected in the subsequent elections, and was a member of the European Parliament until 2004, when he resigned due to health problems. There, Miranda was a vice-chairman of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group, and the chairman of the Committee on Development and Cooperation between 1999 and 2004.

External links

Personal information at the official website of the European Parliament

Obituary in the online edition of Público
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miranda, Joaquim 1950 births 2006 deaths Portuguese Communist Party politicians MEPs for Portugal 1987–1989 MEPs for Portugal 1989–1994 MEPs for Portugal 1994–1999 MEPs for Portugal 1999–2004 Portuguese Communist Party MEPs People from Portalegre, Portugal Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)