His academic career began as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. Barroso did
PhD research at
Georgetown University and Georgetown's
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in
Washington, D.C., but his CV does not list any doctoral degree (except honorary). Back in
Lisbon, Barroso became director of the Department for International Relations at Lusíada University (Universidade Lusíada). In December 1980, Barroso joined the right-of-centre PPD (Democratic Popular Party, later PPD/PSD-
Social Democratic Party), where he remains to the present day. In 1985, under the PSD government of
Aníbal Cavaco Silva,
prime minister of Portugal, Barroso was named Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs. In 1987 he became a member of the same government as he was elevated to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (answering to the Minister of Foreign Affairs), a post he was to hold for the next five years. In this capacity, he was the driving force behind the
Bicesse Accords of 1990, which led to a temporary armistice in the
Angolan Civil War between the ruling
MPLA and the opposition
UNITA. He also supported independence for
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, then a province of
Indonesia by force. In 1992, Barroso was promoted to the post of
Minister of Foreign Affairs, and served in this capacity until the defeat of the PSD in the 1995 general election.
Prime minister of Portugal, 2002–2004 In 1995, while in opposition, Barroso was elected to the
Assembly of the Republic as a representative for Lisbon. He became chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. In 1998 he graduated from the
Georgetown Leadership Seminar. In 1999 he was elected president of the PSD, succeeding
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (a professor of law), and thus became Leader of the Opposition.
Parliamentary elections in 2002 gave the PSD enough seats to form a
coalition government with the right-wing Portuguese
People's Party, and Barroso subsequently became Prime Minister of Portugal on 6 April 2002. As prime minister, facing a growing budget deficit, he made a number of difficult decisions and adopted strict reforms. He vowed to reduce public expenditure, which made him unpopular among leftists and public servants. His purpose was to lower the public budget deficit to a 3% target (according to the demands of EU rules), and official data during the 2002–2004 period stated that the target was being attained. In March 2003, Barroso hosted U.S President
George W. Bush, British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, and Spanish Prime Minister
José María Aznar in the Portuguese island of Terceira, in the
Azores. The four leaders finalised the controversial US-led
2003 invasion of Iraq. Under Barroso's leadership, Portugal became part of the "
coalition of the willing" for the invasion and
occupation of Iraq, sending non-combat troops. On 30 January 2003, Barroso signed
The letter of the eight supporting
US. policy on Iraq. Barroso did not finish his term as he had been nominated as
president of the European Commission on 5 July 2004. Barroso arranged with Portuguese President
Jorge Sampaio to nominate
Pedro Santana Lopes as a substitute prime minister of Portugal. Santana Lopes led the PSD/PP coalition for a few months until early 2005, when new elections were called. When the Portuguese Socialist Party won the elections it produced an estimation that by the end of the year the budget deficit would reach 6.1%, which it used to criticise Barroso's and Santana Lopes's economic policies.
President of the European Commission, 2004–2014 (Parliament), José Manuel Barroso (Commission) and
Herman Van Rompuy (European Council) during a press conference in 2011 in
Brussels. in
Paris, July 2008 and U.S. President
Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., November 2011 and Russian President
Vladimir Putin in Yekaterinburg, June 2013 in Brussels, June 2013 in Warsaw, May 2014 In 2004, the proposed
European Constitution and now the
Treaty of Lisbon included a provision that the choice of the president must take into account the result of
Parliamentary elections and the candidate supported by the victorious
European political party in particular. That provision was not in force in the nomination in 2004, but the centre-right
European People's Party (EPP), who won the elections, pressured for a candidate from its own ranks. In the end, Barroso, as EPP candidate, was chosen by the
European Council. During his first presidency, the following issues were on the Commission's agenda: Turkey applying for
EU membership, the reform of the institutions (
Treaty of Lisbon), the
Bolkestein directive, aimed at creating a single market for services within the EU,
Lisbon Strategy,
Galileo positioning system,
Doha Development Agenda negotiations,
European Institute of Innovation and Technology and an EU climate change package. The EPP again endorsed Barroso for a second term during the 2009 European election campaign and, after the EPP again won the elections, was able to secure his nomination by the
European Council on 17 June 2009. On 3 September 2009, Barroso unveiled his manifesto for his second term. On 16 September 2009, Barroso was re-elected by the European Parliament for another five years. Since he completed his second term he became only the second Commission president to serve two terms, after
Jacques Delors. That Commission's term of office ran until 31 October 2014. Barroso visited
Ireland to persuade Irish citizens to approve the
Treaty of Lisbon in the country's
second referendum due to be held the following month. He told
The Irish Times in an interview referenced internationally by
Reuters that he had been asked if Ireland would split from the European Union. He also launched a €14.8 million grant for former workers at
Dell's Limerick plant, described as "conveniently opportune" by former Member of the European Parliament and anti-Lisbonite
Patricia McKenna. On 12 September 2012, Barroso called for the EU to evolve into a "federation of nation-states", necessary to combat the continent's economic crisis. He said he believed Greece would be able to stay in the eurozone if it stood by its commitments. Barroso also heralded the legislative proposal published the same day for
European Banking Supervision. , French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and Barroso in 2008 He was once appointed
Acting Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration in
Maroš Šefčovič's stead, from 19 April 2014 – 25 May 2014 while he was on electoral campaign leave for the
2014 elections to the
European Parliament. He ultimately decided to not take up his seat.
Controversies In 2005,
Die Welt reported that Barroso had spent a week on the yacht of the Greek shipping billionaire
Spiro Latsis. It emerged soon afterward that this had occurred only a month before the Commission approved 10 million euros of Greek state aid for Latsis's shipping company – though the state aid decision had been taken by the previous European Commission before Barroso took up his post. In response to this revelation,
Nigel Farage MEP of the
UK Independence Party persuaded around 75 MEPs from across the political spectrum to back a motion of no confidence in Barroso, so as to compel him to appear before the
European Parliament to be questioned on the matter. The motion was tabled on 12 May 2005, and Barroso appeared before Parliament as required at a debate on 26 May 2005. The motion itself was heavily defeated. In response to criticism for his choice of a less fuel efficient
Volkswagen Touareg, amid EU legislation of targets drastically to reduce car emissions, Barroso dismissed this as "overzealous moralism". In April 2008, amid sharp food price rises and mounting
food vs fuel concerns, Barroso insisted that
biofuel use was "not significant" in pushing up
food prices. The following month, he announced a study that would look into the issue. The backdoor approval of the GE potato, by President Barroso, has met a wave of strong opposition from EU member-states. The governments of Greece, Austria, Luxembourg, Italy, Hungary and France have all publicly announced that they will not allow the GE potato to be grown in their countries. Barroso has expressed criticism of national governments arguing "Decisions taken by the most democratic institutions in the world are very often wrong." In December 2013 Barroso said that Europe was not the cause of the problems for Ireland; Ireland caused a problem for Europe. Following the bailout exit, in December 2013, the Irish government's bid to get backdated funding for the banking sector was rejected as the head of the European Commission blamed the Irish banks, regulators, and government for the difficulties in the country. Barroso said the problems in the Irish banks caused a "major destabilisation" in the euro, rather than structural problems with the currency itself, "I am saying this because it would be wrong to give the impression that Europe has created a problem for Ireland and now Europe has to help Ireland. In fact, it was the banking sector in Ireland—it was one of the biggest problems in the world in terms of banking stability what happened in Ireland."
Post Brussels, 2015-present Barroso is a policy fellow at the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University and the Frederick H. Schultz Class of 1951 Visiting Professor of International Economic Policy at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Woodrow Wilson School, where he teaches with
Wolfgang F. Danspeckgruber on the EU in International Affairs. Barroso has been a professor at
Portuguese Catholic University since 2015. He has taught at the
Institute of Political Studies, at the Catholic Global School of Law, and at the Catholic Lisbon School of Business and Economics, and directs the Center for European Studies from the same institution. From to 2015 2016, he was a guest professor at the
University of Geneva and at the
Geneva Graduate Institute. In July 2016, Barroso became senior adviser and non-executive chairman and senior adviser of London-based
Goldman Sachs International (GSI), the bank's largest subsidiary. At the time of his appointments, this was regarded as quite controversial, and later led Barroso's successor
Jean-Claude Juncker to launch an ethics investigation. Barroso was heavily criticised for taking the position only two months after the 18-month "cooling-off" period for EU officials after they leave their posts. Barroso's move was especially sensitive because Goldman Sachs played a questionable role in the
2008 financial crisis that nearly broke the euro. Furthermore, Barroso announced his move to the London-based subsidiary of Goldman Sachs shortly after the
Brexit referendum. The European Commission agreed to an unprecedented ethics inquiry into the move. The independent panel concluded there were "not sufficient grounds to establish a violation of the duty of integrity and discretion" and accepted Barroso's assurances that he would not be lobbying on behalf of the bank's clients. and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel watching the
2012 UEFA Champions League Final with Barroso, US President
Barack Obama, French President
François Hollande and others during the G8 summit. In 2020, Barroso was selected as chair of the board at
GAVI, succeeding
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. In addition, Barroso has held several paid and unpaid positions, including: • International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (led by
Gordon Brown), Member (since 2015) •
Bilderberg Meetings, Member of the Steering Committee (since 2014) •
Chatham House, Member of the Panel of Senior Advisers •
European Business Summit (EBS), Honorary Chairman of the Honorary Committee (since 2014) •
Europaeum, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2014) •
European Movement International, Member of the Honorary Council •
Kofi Annan Foundation, Member of the Electoral Integrity Initiative (EII) (since 2016) •
Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, Member of the Honorary Senate •
Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL), Member of the Global Advisory Board •
Sunhak Peace Prize Selection Committee, chair. •
UEFA Foundation for Children, Member of the Board of Trustees (2014–2017) On 15 January 2026 Barroso was appointed as president of the
Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD). ==Personal life==