António Vitorino

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Silvio Berlusconi, Romano Prodi, António Vitorino and Jan Peter Balkenende

António Vitorino (Lisbon, January 12 1957), pron. IPA: [ɐ̃'tɔniu vitu'ɾinu], is a Portuguese politician, member of the Socialist Party (PS).

Career

A lawyer by training, he was first elected to Parliament in 1980. He was part of the Portuguese administration in Macao, returning in 1989 to become a judge of the Constitutional Court.

In 1995, he became minister for defence and deputy prime minister in the first government of António Guterres. He resigned in 1997, being (unfoundedly) suspect of tax evasion. After being cleared, he was appointed European Commissioner for justice and home affairs.

He refused to run for leader of the PS after the resignation of Ferro Rodrigues, despite being overwhelmingly the favourite candidate.

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