| Margarida Balseiro Lopes | |
| Office1: | Vice President of the Social Democratic Party |
| Term Start1: | 3 July 2022 |
| Term End1: | 19 October 2024 |
| Office: | Minister of Youth and Modernization |
| Term Start: | 2 April 2024 |
| Predecessor: | Office established |
| Birth Name: | Ana Margarida Balseiro de Sousa Lopes |
| Birth Date: | 24 September 1989 |
| Birth Place: | Marinha Grande, Portugal |
| Party: | Social Democratic |
| Alma Mater: | University of Lisbon |
| Occupation: | Jurist • Politician |
| Office2: | President of the Social Democratic Youth |
| Termstart2: | 15 April 2018 |
| Predecessor2: | Simão Ribeiro |
| Otherparty: | Social Democratic Youth |
| Term Start3: | 23 October 2015 |
| Termend2: | 26 July 2020 |
| Term End3: | 28 March 2022 |
| Constituency3: | Leiria |
| Predecessor1: | António Maló de Abreu |
| Successor2: | Alexandre Poço |
| President1: | Luís Montenegro |
| Primeminister: | Luís Montenegro |
| Successor1: | Lucinda Dâmaso |
Ana Margarida Balseiro de Sousa Lopes (born 24 September 1989) is a Portuguese jurist and politician. She was a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal as a member of the liberal-conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD) and a former president of Social Democratic Youth (JSD), the youth wing of the PSD. Following the 2024 national election she was appointed as Minister of Youth and Modernization by the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro.[1]
Margarida Balseiro Lopes was born in Marinha Grande in the Leiria District on 24 September 1989. She has a degree in law from the law faculty of the University of Lisbon, and a master's degree in law and management from the Catholic University of Portugal. She is studying for a doctorate. From her time at school she was active in politics, being president of the students' union. Marinha Grande has a strong left-wing tradition and the youth wing of the liberal-conservative PSD was not functioning there. Lopes was responsible for restarting it. At university she was a student representative on the academic council of the law faculty.[2] [3] [4]
Beginning her political career in Marinha Grande, Lopes then became active in the JSD in Leiria District. She was also a councillor on the Marinha Grande municipal council. In 2015 she was elected as a deputy to the Assembly of the Republic on the PSD list for the Leiria constituency and was re-elected in 2019. In 2017 she went to the United States as part of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. She has served on the Budget and Finance Committee of the parliament and has been an alternate on the Education, Science, Youth and Sport Committee. In April 2018 she was elected president of the JSD nationally, a position she relinquished in 2020.[2] [3] [4] She was not a candidate in the 2022 legislative election.
Lopes has been a regular contributor of articles to national Portuguese newspapers, particularly Correio da Manhã.[5]