Maria João Rodrigues

Her Excellency Maria João Rodrigues GOIH, Cdr C.C., O.L.H, MEP
Vice-President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Incumbent
Assumed office 2014
Acting president of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats 2018
Preceded by	Gianni Pittella
Succeeded by	Udo Bullmann
President of FEPS (Foundation for European Progressive Studies)
Incumbent
Assumed office 2017
Minister for Qualification and Employment of Portugal 1995-1997
Preceded by	José Falcão e Cunha
Succeeded by	Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues
Personal details
Born	(1955-09-25) 25 September 1955 Lisbon, Portugal
Political party	Socialist Party
Alma mater	University Institute of Lisbon Pantheon-Sorbonne University
Website	Official website

Maria João Rodrigues GOIH, Cdr C.C., O.L.H, is a Portuguese academic, expert in EU affairs and a European politician, currently Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Group of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) since 2014. Since 2017 she is also 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 (1995–1997) and she was policy maker working in several posts in the European Institutions since 2000, notably in the leading teams of EU Presidencies. She is an expert on EU political economy and has notably served as Special Advisor to a number of elected representatives at both Portuguese and EU level, in particular to former Prime Minister António Guterres, the current Secretary General of United Nations, to several European Commissioners and to the former President of the Party of European Socialists Poul Nyrup Rasmussen).

She is known as the "mother of the Lisbon Strategy" since this is one of her main outcomes. She had also a prominent roles in the development of: the EU2020 Strategy (the follow up of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs); the EU Declaration on Globalization adopted by the European Council (2007); strategic partnerships with 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 EP Strategic Resolutions on the European Commission Annual Work Programme (2015-2017); and, more recenlty, the European Pillar of Social Rights (2017). In 2014, Maria João Rodrigues was elected Member of the European Parliament, 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 is 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).

In 2017 she was also elected President of FEPS, the European Foundation of Progressive Studies, a network of more than 60 national political foundations and think tanks from all over the EU and the world and the only progressive think tank at European level.

In academic terms, Maria João Rodrigues was professor of European economic policies in the European Studies Institute – Université Libre de Bruxelles and in the Lisbon University Institute. She was also the chair of the European Commission Advisory Board for socio-economic sciences. She is author of more than one hundred publications, notably the books.

Education

Maria João Rodrigues holds three master's degrees and a PhD in economics from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne as well as a Degree in Sociology from the University Institute of Lisbon.

Early political career

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 in the conservative government of Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva. Following the victory of the Socialist Party in the 1995 general elections, she was appointed Minister for Employment and Training by Prime Minister António Guterres, on 28 October 1995. She attained a strategic agreement with social partners to prepare Portugal membership to the Eurozone(1997), completed a major reform in the management of the European Social Fund and held this office until 25 November 1997.

The Lisbon Strategy

Main article: Lisbon Strategy

After her role of Minister of Employment, Maria João Rodrigues was appointed by Prime Minister Antonio Guterres special advisor and Head of the Prime Minister's Forward Studies Unit in 1998. In this capacity, she played a dramatic role during the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union, in the first semester of 2000. The Portuguese Presidency notably succeeded in securing a compromise on the so-called Lisbon Strategy, a comprehensive plan that was aimed at boosting growth, competitiveness and employment level in the EU building on innovation. The strategy was adopted at an extraordinary European Council meeting in Lisbon in March 2000, a meeting in which Maria João Rodrigues acted as a sherpa for the Prime Minister. She notably 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 closely the developments of the Lisbon Strategy, in particular as Special Advisor to the Luxembourg Presidency of the European Union for the Mid-term Review of the Lisbon Strategy (2005) and special advisor to the European Commission and Jean-Claude Juncker on the Lisbon strategy.

Looking back on this experience in 2010, Maria João Rodrigues wrote "Even if there were clear failures, the implementation of the Lisbon strategy should not be considered a failure.". The Lisbon strategy is largely considered to have failures but also some achievements. 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, she was appointed by Prime Minister José Socrates as special advisor for the European Union Presidency dealing with the Lisbon Treaty, 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. Maria João Rodrigues has also started a process of "Dialogues for Sustainable Development" with these international partners, sponsored by Gulbenkian Foundation.

Latest political career

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, Maria João 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.

Until 2014, Maria João Rodrigues was also a Professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles and the University of Lisbon. She is also active in several think tank and research institutions, notably as member of the Governing Board of the European Policy Center and of Jacques Delors Institute. She was until 2006 the chair of the advisory Group to the European Commission for Social Sciences and Humanities.

In 2014, Maria João Rodrigues was elected Member of the European parliament in the 2014 European Parliament election and Vice-President of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group, the second most important parliamentary group, along with other nine MEPs. .

In 2016 she moved from the portofolio of economic and social affairs to the one of Coordination of the parliamentary work and inter-institutional negotiations on the EU agenda. In December 2015 she 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.

In 2017, she was rapporteur of the “European Pillar of Social Rights", a report which was backed by a large majority of five political groups in the European Parliament. The European Pillar of Social Rights was proclaimed in the Gothenburg Summit on 17 November 2017.

In June 2017, she was elected as President of the Foundation of European Progressive Studies (FEPS), a network of more than 60 national political foundations and think tanks from all over the EU and the world and the only progressive think tank at European level.

Main institutional roles

• Minister for Employment and Training in Portugal with the Prime-minister António Guterres
• Special Advisor to EU Presidencies, in charge of European Council Summits
• Special Advisor to European Commissioners
• Member of the European Parliament, Committees of Economic and of Social Affairs
• Vice-President of the S&D Group for economic and social affairs
• Vice-President of the S&D Group for general coordination and Parliamentary Secretary
• President of FEPS, Foundation for European Progressive Studies

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
• Member of the Governing Board of Notre Europe, association created by Jacques Delors, Paris
• Member of the Advisory Board of the European Policy Centre, Brussels
• Member of the Steering Committee of the Consortium New Pact for Europe, created by King Baudoin Foundation, Bertelsmann Foundation, Gulbenkian Foundation, La Caixa, Nordon, Network of European Foundations
• Author of more than one hundred publications in English, French and Portuguese
• Participation in more than one thousand conferences as a keynote speaker taking place across Europe and the world in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish

Awards

Maria João Rodrigues was decorated notably with:

• 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.

Honours

• Commander of the Order of the Oak Crown, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, for her contribution to the promotion of social Europe, 2000.
• Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry, Portuguese Republic, for her academic and public service functions and for her European contribution, 2003.
• Knight of Légion d’Honneur, French Republic, 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, for her role in the EU Presidency and the Lisbon Treaty, 2008.

Research interest

Maria João Rodrigues has also been developing a policy response to the Eurozone crisis, notably with respect to the European Financial Stability Facility and the economic governance of the European Union.

In October 2010, she published in 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, she has been arguing for the use of a "big bazooka" to address the eurozone crisis, in the form of a large scale government debt purchase by the European Central Bank.

In 2012, she took a new role in the coordination of the Europe wide project "New Pact for Europe", sponsored by the most relevant European Foundations.

In 2015, she led the S&D Group in the European Parliament to adopt detailed positions on the Greek Crisis and on the reform of the Economic and Monetary Union. She was then appointed to chair this debate with the Social Democratic leaders in Europe. In 2017, she obtained a large majority of five political groups in the European Parliament to back her report on " The European Pillar of Social Rights" and was appointed to the final negotiation began i was proclaimed in the Gothenburg Summit on 17 November 2017.

External links

• Official website Template:En icon Template:Pt icon
• Personal profile of Maria João Rodrigues in the European Parliament's database of members
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