José Sócrates

Who is José Sócrates?

José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH, commonly known as José Sócrates, is a Portuguese politician who was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011.

For the second half of 2007, he acted as the President-in-Office of the Council of the European Union. In addition to these posts, José Sócrates was Portugal's Minister for Youth and Sports and one of the organisers of the UEFA Euro 2004 football championship in Portugal, as well as being a former Environment Minister in the governments of António Guterres.

On 23 March 2011, he submitted his resignation to the president after parliament rejected his government's austerity measures in a vote, leading to the Portuguese legislative election of 2011. After losing the election, held on 5 June 2011, he resigned as Secretary-General of the Socialist Party.