Fernando Medina
Fernando Medina in 2023.
Minister of Finance
Assumed office
30 March 2022
Prime MinisterAntónio Costa
Preceded byJoão Leão
Mayor of Lisbon
In office
6 April 2015 (2015-04-06) – 18 October 2021 (2021-10-18)
Preceded byAntónio Costa
Succeeded byCarlos Moedas
Deputy Mayor of Lisbon
In office
24 October 2013 (2013-10-24) – 6 April 2015 (2015-04-06)
MayorAntónio Costa
Preceded byManuel Salgado
Succeeded byDuarte Cordeiro
Secretary of State Assistant for Industry and Development
In office
31 October 2009 (2009-10-31) – 21 June 2011 (2011-06-21)
Prime MinisterJosé Sócrates
Preceded byAntónio Castro Guerra
Succeeded byAntónio Almeida Henriques
Secretary of State for Employment and Vocational Training
In office
14 March 2005 (2005-03-14) – 26 October 2009 (2009-10-26)
Prime MinisterJosé Sócrates
Preceded byLuís Pais Antunes
Succeeded byValter Lemos
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
Assumed office
29 March 2022
ConstituencyLisbon
In office
20 June 2011 – 24 October 2013
ConstituencyViana do Castelo
In office
15 October 2009 – 31 October 2009
ConstituencyBeja
Personal details
Born
Fernando Medina Maciel Almeida Correia

(1973-03-10) 10 March 1973
Porto, Portugal
Political partySocialist
Alma materUniversity of Porto

Fernando Medina Maciel Almeida Correia (born 10 March 1973) is a Portuguese economist and politician Socialist Party (PS) who has been serving as Minister of Finance in the government of Prime Minister António Costa since 2022. He previously served as Mayor of Lisbon from 2015, succeeding Costa,[1][2] to 2021.

Early life and education

Medina was born in Porto to Edgar Marciel Almeida Correia and Maria Helena Guimarães Medina. He has a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto. He also holds a master's degree in Economic Sociology from the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão.[1]

Political career

Early beginnings

During his time at university, Medina was the President of the Faculty's Students' Union and then the President of the Students' Unions' Federation of Porto.

From 2000 to 2002, Medina served as adviser to Prime Minister António Guterres, first on education and science and later on economic policy.

Following the 2005 national elections, incoming Prime Minister José Sócrates appointed Medina as Secretary of State for Employment and Professional Training, serving under Minister of Labor José António Vieira da Silva.

Mayor of Lisbon, 2015–2021

In June 2021, Medina faced calls for his resignation as a result of his government's decision of January 2021 to share the personal information of at least three Lisbon-based Russian dissidents with Russian authorities.[3] In response, he ruled out stepping down and instead apologized for what he initially described as a "bureaucratic error".[4] Afterwards, municipal authorities admitted that since 2011 Lisbon’s city hall had regularly disclosed the personal information of human rights activists, including "names, identification numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers", with several repressive regimes, including Angola, China and Venezuela. Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa described the situation as "deeply regrettable" and declared that everyone deserved to have their fundamental rights respected in a democratic country.[5]

Medina lost his re-election bid in the 2021 local elections, and was succeeded as Mayor by Carlos Moedas.[6]

As of May 2023, CNN discovered that Medina had, as Mayor of Lisbon, offered positions to rival PSD party. As part of the Tutti Frutti scandal, Medina’s use of influence caused complications to the 2022-2023 Portuguese political crisis, known by numerous cases of corruption within the PS reign.

Minister of Finance, 2022–present

After the Socialist Party's absolute majority victory in the 2022 Portuguese legislative election, he was sworn in as a member of parliament, and two days later, on March 30, 2022, was appointed Minister of Finance of the XXIII Constitutional Government.[7] His first proposal for the government's 2023 budget, which aimed to further slash the deficit to 0.9% of GDP, was approved by parliament in November 2022.[8]

Other activities

European Union organizations
International organizations

Personal life

Medina is married with two sons and a daughter. He plays the piano.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 Avillez, Maria João. "Fernando Medina: quem é o novo presidente da Câmara de Lisboa". Observador. Retrieved 2016-11-08.
  2. ↑ "Fernando Medina toma posse como presidente da Câmara de Lisboa a 6 de Abril" (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2016-11-08.
  3. ↑ Aitor Hernández-Morales (June 10, 2021), Lisbon admits sharing Russian dissidents’ personal data with Moscow Politico Europe.
  4. ↑ Catarina Demony and Andrei Khalip (June 10, 2021), Lisbon mayor apologises over exposure of pro-Navalny activists to Moscow Reuters.
  5. ↑ "Lisbon has shared dissident info with repressive regimes for years". Politico. 2021-06-11. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  6. ↑ Moreira, Cristiana Faria; Martins, Ruben (27 September 2021). "Carlos Moedas eleito presidente da Câmara de Lisboa. "Ganhámos contra tudo e contra todos!"". Público. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  7. ↑ "Fernando Medina é o novo ministro das Finanças". SIC Notícias (in European Portuguese). 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  8. ↑ Sergio Goncalves (25 November 2022), Portugal's parliament passes 2023 budget bill on final reading Reuters.
  9. ↑ Board of Governors European Investment Bank (EIB).
  10. ↑ Board of Governors Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
  11. ↑ Board of Governors European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
  12. ↑ Board of Governors Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
  13. ↑ Board of Governors Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group.
  14. ↑ Board of Governors World Bank.
  15. ↑ Sergio Goncalves (23 March 2022), Portuguese PM picks former Lisbon mayor as new finance minister Reuters.
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