Home > Pedro Santana Lopes
Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes (born June 29, 1956) is a Portuguese politician, and the Prime Minister of Portugal since July 17, 2004.
Santana Lopes was born in Lisbon and graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon. He joined the Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD) in 1976, where he remains until present day.
He was part of the Portuguese government as the Secretary of State for CultureThe word culture comes from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor). In general it refers to human activity; different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. when Aníbal Cavaco SilvaAnibal Antonio Cavaco Silva (born at Boliqueime in Loule municipality on the Algarve Coast, on July 15, 1939) was Prime Minister of Portugal from November 6, 1985 to October 28, 1995. His tenure of ten years was the longest of any democratically elected P was Prime Minister. He was also Sporting Clube de PortugalSporting Clube de Portugal often known outside Portugal as Sporting Lisbon is a sports club that is best known for having one of the best football teams in Portugal. It was established in 1906. Among Portuguese clubs, Sporting has the best football infras's president, and later mayor of Figueira da Foz (the only occasion he finished a term in office) and then Lisbon. During this period, he also earned a living as a sports commentator.
After three unsuccessful attempts to become leader of his party, Santana Lopes finally rose to vice-president under José Durão Barroso, a man who had once called him "a mix of astrologist and sports commentator." In early July 2004, Durão Barroso resigned from his duties as Prime Minister and party leader in order to be appointed President of the European Commission, and Santana Lopes became the head of PSD. Because PSD was the major party in the coalition government at the time, Santana Lopes also inherited the seat of Prime Minister, a position he was formally invited to by president Jorge Sampaio on July 12, 2004.
Santana Lopes is known for his Quaylesque gaffes, including claiming Chopin's violin concerts as his favourite piece of classical music (which the Polish composer never wrote), sending a postcard to Brazilian author Machado de Assis (who died in 1908) and calling a press conference to announce he was being threatened when in fact he had received a mailing for a book titled Cuidado com os rapazes ("Watch out for the boys"), or issuing an official press statement denying that he had taken a nap.
Santana Lopes is single and has five children of three different women.
