Alberto João Cardoso Gonçalves Jardim, GCC, GCIH (, born 4 February 1943) is a Portuguese politician who was the President of the Regional Government of

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, from 1978 to 2015.

Early years

Jardim was born on Madeira Island in 1943, son of Alberto Gonçalves Jardim (d. 1954) and wife Marceliana do Patrocínio de Jesus Cardoso (

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

, São Pedro, baptized 2 September 1909 – 29 July 2006). He went to

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

in order to study at the local university, and he lived there for over a decade as a student. He was awarded a degree of Licentiate in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

from the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

of the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

in 1973. Jardim became a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. He was also director of the ''Instituto de Emprego e Formação Profissional da Ilha da Madeira'' (Employment and Vocational Training Centre of Madeira Island). As a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, he was director of "Jornal da Madeira", and wrote for different Portuguese newspapers and magazines.

Politics

He was one of the Founders of the then Popular Democratic Party (PPD) in May 1974, a month after the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

, together with Francisco Sá Carneiro, Francisco Pinto Balsemão,

Joaquim Magalhães Mota Joaquim Jorge de Magalhães Saraiva da Mota (November 17, 1935 in Santarém, São Salvador – September 26, 2007 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician. Background He was a son of Elói do Nascimento Saraiva da Mota (July 2, 190 ...

, Carlos Mota Pinto, João Bosco Mota Amaral, António Barbosa de Melo and António Marques Mendes, and co-founder of its Madeiran branch. First elected in 1978 at the age of 35, Alberto João Jardim was then successively elected President of the Regional Government of

10 times. He is a member of the: *

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

of the Portuguese Republic as the President of the Regional Government of Madeira * State Defense Council of the Portuguese Republic * State Internal Defense Superior Council of the Portuguese Republic * Homeland Security Superior Council of the Portuguese Republic. He is one of the longest-serving, democratically elected leaders of any jurisdiction in the world. Alberto João Jardim is also a member and former Vice President (2000–2001) of the European Union Committee of the Regions. He is Honorary President of the European Summit of Regions & Cities. He is the founder and a member of the Assembly of European Regions. He was Vice President of

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

. On 19 February 2007, he resigned from his office in protest against the new law on regional finances enacted by the national government of José Sócrates. Due to his resignation, early elections had to be scheduled, which he won easily. The national government, nevertheless, announced that the law wouldn't be changed. On 8 January 2011, he suffered a heart attack but recovered and won elections again on 9 October 2011, after winning he promised to resign in early 2015. On 12 January 2015 he retired as President of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

of Madeira, elections were held and

Miguel Albuquerque Miguel Filipe Machado de Albuquerque (born 4 May 1961) is a Portugal, Portuguese Monarchism, monarchist politician of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal), Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the current Presidents of the Regional Government of M ...

succeeded him as President of the

of Madeira. On 14 February 2015 during the carnival of Madeira which Alberto usually participated, he wore a Greek traditional hat, he stated that it was to show his

solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

for the people of Greece and

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...

. He also warned that the new government of Madeira that will replace him should be strong and not bow to the government of Lisbon, because the people of Madeira want strong leadership because Madeira has been robbed by Lisbon for 5 and half centuries, therefore justifying the financial hole that occurred during the later part of his presidency and if they fail to deliver Je suis un Syriza (I am a Syriza) (It has been speculated that this could mean he would make a comeback if Madeira needed him). On 29 March 2015 regional elections were held and Alberto ruled himself out as he had said he would in 2011,

won the election and became the new president on 20 April 2015.

Family

In 1968 he married Maria Ângela Andrade Martins (born 1940) and had three children: * Cláudia Sofia Martins Gonçalves Jardim (born 24 August 1970), married to David Gomes and mother of Maria Carlota Jardim Gomes (born 1998) * Pedro Alberto Martins Gonçalves Jardim (born 8 January 1972), single * Andreia Luísa Martins Gonçalves Jardim (born 1975), married to José Miguel Monteiro de Resende Tropa (born 1975) and mother of Pedro Afonso Gonçalves Jardim de Resende Tropa (born 2005), Maria Pilar Gonçalves Jardim de Resende Tropa (n. 2013) and João Francisco Gonçalves Jardim de Resende Tropa (2013).

Controversies

A controversial personality, Jardim is usually seen as an outspoken populist, who is infamous for his often outspoken remarks about his political opponents, from left to right, including several journalists. As Madeira's democratically elected political leader for over 30 years, he has many supporters who view him as a responsible and proactive governor, particularly well regarded in the Archipelago of Madeira proper. Despite his confrontational, explosive and sometimes impolite personality, Jardim has claimed many benefits and privileges for Madeira, helping the region to improve in several fields throughout the years it has been under his leadership. However, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

assistance to its ultra-peripheral regions, which includes the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, has played a major role in the region's development; Madeira's development has been massively aided by structural and cohesion funds allocated by the European Union to the regional government. In addition, Jardim's government of the autonomous region was financially supported, decade across decade, by massive

public debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occu ...

creation and wild over-expenditure. An even more surprising scandal was reported on 16 September 2011, when Portugal's central bank said Madeira island had under-reported its debt since 2004, putting further pressure on the country to meet deficit targets under an international bailout. An evaluation conducted by the Bank of Portugal of Madeira's accounts showed it failed to report EUR1.1 billion ($1.53 billion) in debt from 2008 to 2010 alone. The Bank of Portugal called the omission "grave," adding it doesn't know of any similar cases in the rest of the country. The debt was finally totaled at

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

6 billion, €3 billion less than the total that Alberto said mainland Portugal owed Madeira. His name has been often associated with the Madeira Archipelago Liberation Front (FLAMA), the archipelago's defunct far-right

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

terrorist organization that undertook 70 bombings in Madeira between 1975 and 1978. Although no FLAMA activists were ever brought to justice, Alberto João Jardim has often supported their cause, stating that "they should receive a reward not a punishment, since they're defenders of democracy and of the homeland".

Other affiliations

* He was a fan of C.S. Marítimo, a sports club from Funchal. In 1997 he tried to join the three biggest teams from Funchal in one unified and governmental team. Then the popular Marítimo's supporters denied that intention in a big demonstration. After that he has been seen on the C. D. Nacional side. He will be the president of the commemorations of the 100 years of Nacional. * Invited Professor of the Universidade Independente, a Private University in Lisbon.

Honours and Distinctions

National Honours and Distinctions

Portuguese Ancient Military Orders

Grand Cross of the Order of Christ (21 December 2015)

Portuguese National Orders

PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Cross BAR

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Gran ...

of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

(12 December 1984)

Municipal Honours

Medal of Honour * Santa Cruz Medal of Honour * São Vicente Collar of Honour

Other Portuguese Distinctions

* Commander of Benefaction of the * Portuguese Firemen League Gratitude

Medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

* Portuguese Firemen League Meritorious Service

* Portuguese Firemen League 20 Years of Good Service

* Madeiran Volunteer Firemen 50 Years Commemorative

* National Scouts Corps Meritorious Service

Foreign Honours

European

* Robert Schuman Medal ( EPP Group) * "Pro Merito"

(

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

)

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

* Commander Grand Cross of the

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

= Federal Orders

= *

VEN Order of the Liberator - Grand Officer BAR

Grand Officer of the Order of the Liberator * VEN Order Francisco de Miranda - Grand Cross BAR

''Generalísimo'' (First Class) of the Order of Francisco de Miranda

= State Orders

= *

Guárico Guárico State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Juan de Los Morros and the largest city is Calabozo, other important city centers include Valle de la Pascua and Zaraza. Guárico State covers a total surface ...

State's Order of Ricardo Montilha * Aragua State's Order of Saurau de Aragua * Lara State's Order of Jacinto Lara

= Municipal Orders

= *

Chacao Municipality Chacao is one of the five political and administrative subdivisions of the city of Caracas, Venezuela. The other four are Baruta, El Hatillo, Libertador and Sucre. This legal entity is known as the Caracas Metropolitan District. Chacao is also ...

's Order of Community * Iribarren Municipality's Order of Juan Guilhermo Iribarren

Other Honours

* Honorary

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

of the Byzantine Order of the Holy Sepulchre

Academic Distinctions

European

Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

Political Sciences Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

, granted by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

University of St. Cirilio.

National

*"Honoris Causa" doctorate granted by the University of Madeira.

Published books

* ''Tribuna Livre'' (3 vols.) * ''Pela Autonomia e o Desenvolvimento Integral'' (2 vols.) * ''A Experiência da Autonomia Regional da Madeira'' * ''Regionalização, Europa, Estado e Poder Local''

References

- , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Jardim, Alberto Joao 1943 births Living people People from Funchal Portuguese Roman Catholics 20th-century Portuguese politicians 21st-century Portuguese politicians Social Democratic Party (Portugal) politicians Presidents of the Regional Government of Madeira Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry 20th-century Portuguese lawyers University of Coimbra alumni