Fernando Medina Explained

Fernando Medina
Office:Minister of Finance
Term Start:30 March 2022
Term End:2 April 2024
Primeminister:António Costa
Predecessor:João Leão
Successor:Joaquim Miranda Sarmento
Office2:Mayor of Lisbon
Predecessor2:António Costa
Successor2:Carlos Moedas
Office3:Deputy Mayor of Lisbon
1Blankname3:Mayor
1Namedata3:António Costa
Predecessor3:Manuel Salgado
Successor3:Duarte Cordeiro
Office4:Secretary of State Assistant for Industry and Development
Primeminister4:José Sócrates
Predecessor4:António Castro Guerra
Successor4:António Almeida Henriques
Office5:Secretary of State for Employment and Vocational Training
Primeminister5:José Sócrates
Predecessor5:Luís Pais Antunes
Successor5:Valter Lemos
Birth Name:Fernando Medina Maciel Almeida Correia
Birth Date:10 March 1973
Birth Place:Porto, Portugal
Party:Socialist
Spouse:Stéphanie Silva
Children:3
Alma Mater:University of Porto
Term Start6:29 March 2022
Term Start8:15 October 2009
Term End8:31 October 2009
Term Start7:20 June 2011
Term End7:24 October 2013
Constituency6:Lisbon
Constituency7:Viana do Castelo
Constituency8:Beja

Fernando Medina Maciel Almeida Correia (born 10 March 1973) is a Portuguese economist and politician Socialist Party (PS) who served as Minister of Finance in the government of Prime Minister António Costa from 2022 to 2024. 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.

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]

See main article: Tutti Frutti scandal.

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, 2022–2024

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]

Electoral history

Lisbon City Council election, 2017

See main article: 2017 Lisbon local election. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Candidate! align="center" style="width: 50px"| Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Seats! align="center" style="width: 50px"|+/−|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PS| align=left |Fernando Medina || 106,036 || 42.0 || 8 || style="color:red;"| –3|-| style="background:#0066CC;"|| align="left"|CDS–PP/MPT/PPM| align=left |Assunção Cristas || 51,984 || 20.6 || 4 || style="color:green;"| +3|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PSD| align=left |Teresa Leal Coelho || 28,336 || 11.2 || 2 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDU| align=left |João Ferreira || 24,110 || 9.6 || 2 || ±0|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| BE| align=left |Ricardo Robles || 18,025 || 7.1 || 1 || style="color:green;"| +1|-| style="background:teal;"|| align="left"| PAN| align=left |Inês Sousa Real || 7,658 || 3.0 || 0 || ±0|-| style="background:white;"|| colspan="2" align="left"| Other parties| 5,833 || 2.3 || 0 || ±0|-| colspan="3" align="left"| Blank/Invalid ballots | 10,498 || 4.2 || – || –|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan="3" align="left"| Turnout| 252,481 || 51.16 || 17 || ±0|-| colspan="7" align=left|Source: Autárquicas 2017[16] |}

Lisbon City Council election, 2021

See main article: 2021 Lisbon local election. |-! colspan="2" | Party! Candidate! align="center" style="width: 50px"| Votes! align="center" style="width: 50px"|%! align="center" style="width: 50px"|Seats! align="center" style="width: 50px"|+/−|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"|PSD/CDS–PP/Alliance/MPT/PPM| align=left |Carlos Moedas || 83,185 || 34.3 || 7 || style="color:green;"| +1|-| style="background:magenta;"|| align="left"|PS/Livre| align=left |Fernando Medina || 80,907 || 33.3 || 7 || style="color:red;"| –1|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| CDU| align=left |João Ferreira || 25,550 || 10.5 || 2 || ±0|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| BE| align=left |Beatriz Gomes Dias || 15,057 || 6.2 || 1 || ±0|-| style="background:#202056;"|| align="left"| Chega| align=left |Nuno Graciano || 10,730 || 4.4 || 0 || new|-| style="background:;"|| align="left"| IL| align=left |Bruno Horta Soares || 10,213 || 4.2 || 0 || new|-| style="background:teal;"|| align="left"| PAN| align=left |Manuela Gonzaga || 6,625 || 2.7 || 1 || ±0|-| style="background:white;"|| colspan="2" align="left"| Other parties| 3,031 || 1.3 || 0 || ±0|-| colspan="3" align="left"| Blank/Invalid ballots | 7,445 || 3.1 || – || –|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| colspan="3" align="left"| Turnout| 242,743 || 50.99 || 17 || ±0|-| colspan="7" align=left|Source: Autárquicas 2021[17] |}

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Fernando Medina: quem é o novo presidente da Câmara de Lisboa. Avillez. Maria João. Observador. 2016-11-08.
  2. News: Fernando Medina toma posse como presidente da Câmara de Lisboa a 6 de Abril. pt-PT. 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. Web site: 2021-06-11. Lisbon has shared dissident info with repressive regimes for years. 2021-06-18. Politico. en-US.
  6. Web site: Carlos Moedas eleito presidente da Câmara de Lisboa. "Ganhámos contra tudo e contra todos!" . Moreira . Cristiana Faria . Martins . Ruben . 27 September 2021 . . 27 September 2021 .
  7. Web site: 2022-03-23. Fernando Medina é o novo ministro das Finanças. 2022-04-05. SIC Notícias. pt-PT.
  8. Sergio Goncalves (25 November 2022), Portugal's parliament passes 2023 budget bill on final reading Reuters.
  9. http://www.eib.org/about/governance-and-structure/statutory-bodies/board_of_governors/index.htm Board of Governors
  10. https://www.aiib.org/en/about-aiib/governance/board-governors/index.html Board of Governors
  11. http://www.ebrd.com/shareholders-and-board-of-governors.html Board of Governors
  12. https://www.iadb.org/en/about-us/board-governors Board of Governors
  13. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/918571541108839939/MIGAGovernors.pdf Board of Governors
  14. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/627731541108831255/BankGovernors.pdf Board of Governors
  15. Sergio Goncalves (23 March 2022), Portuguese PM picks former Lisbon mayor as new finance minister Reuters.
  16. Web site: Autárquicas 2017 . SGMAI . 9 August 2024.
  17. Web site: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 1-B/2021 . Diário da República . 29 November 2021. 9 August 2024.