António Vitorino

António Vitorino GCC
António Vitorino (center)
2nd European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs
In office 13 September 1999 – 31 October 2004
President	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Anita Gradin
Succeeded by	Franco Frattini
Minister of the Presidency
In office 28 October 1995 – 25 November 1997
Prime Minister	António Guterres
Preceded by	Fernando Nogueira
Succeeded by	Jorge Coelho
Minister of Defence
In office 28 October 1995 – 25 November 1997
Prime Minister	António Guterres
Preceded by	António Figueiredo Lopes
Succeeded by	José Veiga Simão
Judge of the Constitutional Court
In office 2 August 1989 – 10 March 1994
Appointed by	Assembly of the Republic
Preceded by	Armando Marques Guedes
Succeeded by	Maria Fernanda Pereira
Personal details
Born	António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino 12 January 1957 (age 58) Lisbon, Portugal
Political party	Socialist
Alma mater	University of Lisbon
Profession	Lawyer

António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino (12 January 1957 in Lisbon; Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐ̃ˈtɔniu vituˈɾinu]) is a Portuguese politician and member of the Socialist Party (PS).

Vitorino graduated in law from the University of Lisbon. A lawyer by training, he was first elected to Parliament in 1980. In 1983, he was Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, a junior minister role in the grand coalition government led by Mário Soares. After the government's defeat in the 1985 elections, Vitorino became a deputy secretary for the Governor of Macau. In 1989, he returned to Lisbon to become a judge of the Constitutional Court, ending his term in 1994.

In 1995, he became Minister for National Defence and Deputy Prime Minister in the first government of António Guterres. He resigned in 1997 for being suspected of tax evasion.

After being cleared of the charges, Vitorino was appointed European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, during the commission led by Romano Prodi. As a representative of the European Commission, he took part in the conversations that drew up the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Convention on the Future of Europe. At the Convention, he chaired a reflection group on the European Court of Justice.

When Guterres ruled himself out of the contest for the role of President of the European Commission in June 2004, he instead threw his support behind Vitorino. The post eventually went to José Manuel Barroso. In 2004, Vitorino refused to run for leader of the Socialist Party after the resignation of Ferro Rodrigues, despite being overwhelmingly the favourite candidate.José Sócrates become the new leader of the party instead of Vitorino, going on to win a majority in the 2005 general election.