Maria da Assunção Andrade EstevesBiografia
/ref> (born 15 October 1956) is a Portuguese politician who was President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal from 2011 to 2015. She was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for 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 ...

– People's Party coalition, part of the European People's Party–European Democrats

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

, from 2004 to 2009.

Life and career

Born in Valpaços,

Valpaços Valpaços () is a municipality in northern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 16,882, in an area of 548.74 km2. History The first documents that cite Valpaços date back to the 12th century. Its toponymy evolved from pre-national settlem ...

, Assunção Esteves holds both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, where she was an assistant between 1989 and 1999. During that time, she was also a Justice of the

Portuguese Constitutional Court The Constitutional Court (, ) is a special court, defined by the Portuguese Constitution as part of the judicial branch of the Portuguese political organization. Unlike the rest of the country's courts, the Constitutional Court has important c ...

from 1989 to 1998. On 21 June 2011 she became the first female President of the Assembly of the Republic. At the time, being unable to receive both her salary of €5,219.15 as President of the Assembly and her retirement pension of €7,255, which she started receiving at the age of 42, for having been a Justice of the Portuguese Constitutional Court, she chose to keep her retirement pension. Additionally, she received €2,133 for work expenses.

Honours

National

Grand Cross of the Order of Christ (11 November 2015)

Foreign

*: Sash of the

Order of the Aztec Eagle The Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle () forms part of the Mexican Honors System and is the highest Mexican order awarded to foreigners. History It was created by decree on December 29, 1933, by President Abelardo L. Rodríguez as a reward to ...

(17 August 2015) *: Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun (26 July 2013)

References

External links

1956 births 21st-century women MEPs for Portugal Living people Members of the 5th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 9th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Members of the 12th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) MEPs for Portugal 2004–2009 People from Valpaços Presidents of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Social Democratic Party (Portugal) MEPs Women members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) {{Portugal-MEP-stub