Maria João Fernandes Rodrigues
GOIH (born 25 September 1955) is a Portuguese academic and politician who served as Minister of Employment in Portugal and 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 ...
. She was Vice-President of the Group of the
Socialists and Democrats
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the Political groups of the European Parliament, political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and ...
(S&D) from 2014 until 2019. Since 2017, Rodrigues is President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS).
Her political career began as Minister of Employment of Portugal in the first government of Prime Minister
António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...
(1995–1997) and she was policy maker working in several posts in the European Institutions since 2000, most notably in the leading teams of EU Council Presidencies. She is an expert on EU
political economy
Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...
and has served as Special Advisor to a number of elected representatives at both Portuguese and EU level, in particular to
António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...
, the current
Secretary General of United Nations, and to the former President of the
Party of European Socialists
The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party.
The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...
(
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
Poul Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen (, informally Poul Nyrup, born 15 June 1943) is a retired Danish politician, who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 25 January 1993 to 27 November 2001 and President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) from ...
).
In 2014, Rodrigues was elected
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 ...
, integrating the
Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) - the second most important EP Group, with 190 members coming from the 28 Member States, which elected her in 2014 as Vice-president. As S&D Vice-President, she was in charge of general coordination and interface with the other EU institutions and member of the Committees of Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON).
Education
Rodrigues holds three master's degrees and a PhD in economics from the
University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
as well as a Degree in Sociology from the
University Institute of Lisbon.
Political career
Career in national politics
A Professor of Economics at the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL) since 1987, Maria João Rodrigues started her career in
public affairs in 1993 as a consultant in the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, then headed by
José Falcão e Cunha
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...
in the government of Prime Minister
Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October ...
.
Following the victory 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 ...
in the 1995 general elections, she was appointed Minister for Employment and Training by Prime Minister
António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...
, on 28 October 1995. She attained a strategic agreement with social partners to prepare Portugal membership to the
Eurozone
The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...
(1997), completed a reform in the management of the European Social Fund and held this office until 25 November 1997.
The Lisbon Strategy
After her role of Minister of Employment, Rodrigues was appointed by Prime Minister António Guterres special advisor and Head of the Prime Minister's Forward Studies Unit in 1998. In this capacity, she played a role during the Portuguese Presidency of 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 ...
, in the first semester of 2000. The Portuguese Presidency succeeded in securing a compromise on the so-called
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 Portugue ...
, a plan that was aimed at boosting growth, competitiveness and employment level in the EU building on innovation. The strategy was adopted at a European Council meeting in Lisbon in March 2000, a meeting in which Maria João Rodrigues acted as a
sherpa
SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) is an organisation originally set up in 2002 to run and manage the SHERPA Project.
History
SHERPA began as an endeavour to support the establishment of a number of open ...
for the Prime Minister. She contributed to build a compromise between the delegations of the British and French governments, by resorting to the open ''method of coordination''. Maria João Rodrigues continued to monitor the developments of the Lisbon Strategy, in particular as Special Advisor to the
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
Presidency of the European Union for the Mid-term Review of the Lisbon Strategy (2005) and special advisor to the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
and
Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...
on the Lisbon strategy.
Looking back on this experience in 2010, Rodrigues wrote "Even if there were clear failures, the implementation of the Lisbon strategy should not be considered a failure.". In 2007, the EU average GR was 2.7% and 16 million jobs have been created. Most of all, it changed the governance of the European Union with higher coordination of economic and social policies, involving around 400 measures.
In 2007, Rodrigues was appointed by Prime Minister
José Socrates as special advisor for the European Union Council Presidency dealing with the
Lisbon Treaty
The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two Treaty, treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all Member stat ...
, the Lisbon strategy and EU Summits with international partners China, India, Brazil, Russia and Africa. This mission, which achieved the negotiation of the Lisbon Treaty, came to end on 1 January 2008, when the rotating presidency of the European Union was handed to
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
. Rodrigues has also started a process of "Dialogues for Sustainable Development" with these international partners, sponsored by
Gulbenkian Foundation
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (), commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One of the wealthiest charitable founda ...
.
In 2010, the Lisbon Strategy was succeeded by the Europe 2020 strategy, a new EU plan for "smart, sustainable and inclusive economic growth". Although not acting in any official capacity anymore, Rodrigues' previous experiences with the Lisbon strategy meant that her viewpoint on the Europe 2020 was highly valued all across the political spectrum and in many European capitals.
Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2019
In the
2014 European elections, Rodrigues became 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 ...
and Vice-President of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group, the second most important parliamentary group, along with other nine MEPs. She also joined the
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion ...
.
In December 2015 Rodrigues was one of the candidates for the Portuguese Council of State (an advisory council to the President of the Republic) in the list put forward by the left-wing parties in the Portuguese parliament, as substitute member.
Also in 2015, Rodrigues led the
S&D Group in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...
to adopt detailed positions on the
Greek government-debt crisis
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
** Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kn ...
and 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 progressi ...
.
Psychological harassment case
On Thursday April 18, 2019, Maria Joao Rodrigues was found guilty by the European Parliament of
psychological harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...
of one of her employees.
Among the nine separate allegations against Rodrigues were attempts to reduce working hours and salary of a staff member after maternity leave, asking an employee on sick leave to carry out late-night tasks and demanding staff work well beyond normal office hours.
During the investigation, she was left off the Portuguese PS electoral list. All the above referred allegations were considered not proved and were dismissed by the Brussels Labour Court judgement on 14 July 2022.
[Judgement Ref NR 20/1688/A This judgement report can be consulted in the Brussels Labour Court (Tribunal Francophone du Travail de Bruxelles 2e Chambre). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GYY8Sss1s2k7atFwlNop0G6SAtrTGbS3/view?usp=sharing]
Political positions
Rodrigues has also been developing a policy response to the
Eurozone crisis
The euro area crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis, European debt crisis, or European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis and financial crisis in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until, in Greece, 2018. The ...
, with respect to the
European Financial Stability Facility
The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. It was agreed by the Council of the European Union on 9 May 2010, with the object ...
and the economic governance of the European Union. In October 2010, she published in the European current affairs online newspaper ''
EurActiv'' a "short theatre piece" summing up her thoughts on the issue of European Economic Governance, and several other policy papers, reports and books followed. In December 2011, Rodrigues argued for the use of a "big
bazooka
The Bazooka () is a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", th ...
" to address the eurozone crisis, in the form of a large scale
government 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 ...
purchase by the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
.
Main outcomes in EU policy-making
* The EU “Lisbon Strategy” for Growth and Jobs – with new policy orientations for industrial, information society, research, innovation, education, employment, social protection and environment policies (2000-2010). The follow-up with the EU2020 strategy
* The EU Lisbon Treaty, final negotiation team (2007)
* The EU Declaration on Globalization adopted by the European Council (2007)
* Preparation of the EU Summits with EU strategic partners: USA, China, India, Russia, South Africa and Brazil (2007-2012)
* The new phase of the Erasmus Programme (2008)
* The priorities for the European regional development policy (2005–07)
* The responses to the Euro-zone crisis (2008–13)
* The European Pillar of Social Rights (2017)
* EP Strategic Resolutions on the European Commission Annual Work Programme (2015-2017)
Main academic roles
* Professor of European Economic Policies at the Institute for European Studies, Université Libre de Bruxelles
* Professor of Economics at the Lisbon University Institute (ISCTE-IUL), currently on leave due to public interest activity
* President of the European Commission Advisory Board in charge of preparing the 7th Framework Programme for Research in socio-economic sciences
* Economic rapporteur in the ESPAS, European Strategic Planning and Analysis System
* Coordinator of the Project “Dialogues for Sustainable Development” bridging between the EU and Brazil, Russia, India and China, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
* Member of the OECD network of government long-term strategists
* Special Advisor to the Prime Minister and Head of the PM’s Forward Studies Unit
Other activities
* Reimagine Europa, Chair of the Advisory Board
* Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), President (since 2017)
*
Jacques Delors Institute
The Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute (), formerly ''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 Europe." Enrico Letta currently serve ...
, Member of the Governing Board
*
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 presidency of Brigid Laffan, the EPC's Chief Executive is Fabian Zuleeg, a German economist. ...
(EPC), Member of the Strategic Council
* New Pact for Europe, Member of the Advisory Group (since 2012)
Advisory Group
New Pact for Europe.
Recognition
Awards
* Nominated for the Gaetan Pirou Award (Economic Science Award given by French universities at national level), 1986.
* Gulbenkian Science and Technology National Award in Portugal, 1986 for her PhD thesis on the Employment System
* Highly mentioned in the Boa Esperança Science and Technology Award in Portugal, 1992
National honors
*
Commander of the Order of the Oak Crown
The Order of the Oak Crown (, , ) is an order (honour), order of the Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
History
The Order of the Oak Crown was established in 1841 by William II of the Netherlands, Grand Duke William II, who was also King o ...
, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg ...
, for her contribution to the promotion of social Europe, 2000.
*
Grand Officer 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 ...
, Portuguese Republic
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it shares the longes ...
, for her academic and public service functions and for her European contribution, 2003.
*
Knight of ''Légion d’Honneur'', French Republic
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, for her role in the European integration and the EU Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, 2005.
*
Officier of ''Légion d’Honneur'' (promotion within the Order's ranks), French Republic
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, for her role in the EU Presidency and the Lisbon Treaty, 2008.
External links
*
*
Twitter
Facebook
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodrigues, Maria Joao
1955 births
Living people
20th-century Portuguese politicians
20th-century Portuguese women politicians
21st-century Portuguese politicians
Government ministers of Portugal
Members of the Forward Studies Unit of the European Commission
MEPs for Portugal 2014–2019
21st-century women MEPs for Portugal
21st-century Portuguese economists
Portuguese women economists
Portuguese women academics
University of Lisbon alumni
Academic staff of the University of Lisbon
University of Paris alumni
Women government ministers of Portugal
20th-century Portuguese economists