Paulo Rangel

For the Brazilian association football player, see Paulo Rangel (footballer).
Paulo Rangel
Rangel in 2024
Minister of State and of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 April 2024
Prime MinisterLuís Montenegro
Preceded byJoão Gomes Cravinho
Member of the European Parliament
for Portugal
In office
14 July 2009 – 1 April 2024
Succeeded byAna Miguel dos Santos
Vice President of the Social Democratic Party
In office
3 July 2022 – 19 October 2024
PresidentLuís Montenegro
Preceded byAna Paula Martins
Succeeded byLeonor Beleza
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
In office
10 March 2005 – 13 July 2009
ConstituencyPorto
Secretary of State
Adjunct to the Minister of Justice
In office
17 July 2004 – 12 March 2005
Prime MinisterPedro Santana Lopes
MinisterJosé Pedro Aguiar-Branco
Preceded byJoão Mota de Campos
Succeeded byJosé Manuel Conde Rodrigues
President of the Parliamentary Group of the Social Democratic Party
In office
26 June 2008 – 13 July 2009
PresidentManuela Ferreira Leite
Preceded byPedro Santana Lopes
Succeeded byAntónio Montalvão Machado
Personal details
Born
Paulo Artur dos Santos Castro de Campos Rangel

(1968-02-18) 18 February 1968 (age 56)
Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Political partySocial Democratic Party (2005–present)
Other political
affiliations		CDS – People's Party (1996–1999)
Alma materPortuguese Catholic University
OccupationJurist • Politician

Paulo Artur dos Santos Castro de Campos Rangel (born 18 February 1968) is a Portuguese jurist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2024, in the XXIV Constitutional Government, led by Luís Montenegro.[1]

Previously, Rangel served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2009 and 2024. He also serves as treasurer of the European People's Party under the leadership of its president Manfred Weber.[2]

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2024

Rangel was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the 2009 European elections. Ahead of the 2014 European elections, the PSD named Rangel at the top of their list.[3] In the 2019 European elections, he served as his party's lead candidate again.[4]

In parliament, Rangel served on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs from 2009. In that capacity, he drafted the parliament's 2010 report on the framework agreement between the European Commission and the Parliament, which demanded that MEPs should be allowed to participate in international negotiations that lead to accords that need parliamentary backing.[5] In 2014, he became the committee's vice-chairman. He became a member of the Working Group on the Conference on the Future of Europe.

In 2019, Rangel also joined Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. In this capacity, he served as the parliament's rapporteur on Croatia's accession to the Schengen zone.[6]

In addition to his committee assignments, Rangel served on the parliament's delegations for to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (2017–2019) and for relations with the United States (2019–2014), Brazil (2014–2017), Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo (2021–2024), and Montenegro (2021–2024).

Upon entering the parliament, Rangel was chosen as one of the vice-presidents of the European People's Party Group. Within the European People's Party, he chaired the Working Group on EPP Membership from 2016.[7] In this capacity, he notably decided to suspend the Fidesz party in 2020.[8] In 2021, he was also appointed to the EPP group's task force for proposing changes to its rules of procedure to allow for "the possibility of the collective termination of membership of a group of Members rather than just individual membership", alongside Esteban González Pons, Jan Olbrycht, Esther de Lange and Othmar Karas.[9]

Role in national politics

During his time in parliament, Rangel launched a bid for the leadership of the PSD in 2010 but ultimately came second and lost against Pedro Passos Coelho.[10] In 2021, he again announced his candidacy for the leadership of the PSD and demanded a more assertive opposition to Prime Minister António Costa's Socialist government; in the vote held in November 2021, he was defeated by incumbent Rui Rio.[11]

Other activities

  • RAR Group, Chairman of the Board of the Shareholders' General Meeting
  • Associação Comercial do Porto (ACP), Member of the Board

Personal life

In 2021, Paulo Rangel publicly came out as gay.[12][13]

Electoral history

European Parliament election, 2009

Main article: 2009 European Parliament election in Portugal
Ballot: 7 June 2009
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
PSD Paulo Rangel 1,131,744 31.7 8 +1
PS Vital Moreira 946,818 26.5 7 –5
BE Miguel Portas 382,667 10.7 3 +2
CDU Ilda Figueiredo 379,787 10.6 2 ±0
CDS–PP Nuno Melo 298,423 8.4 2 ±0
MEP Laurinda Alves 55,072 1.5 0 new
PCTP/MRPP Orlando Alves 42,940 1.2 0 ±0
Other parties 95,744 2.7 0 ±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 235,748 6.6 – –
Turnout 3,568,943 36.78 22 –2
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[14]

PSD leadership election, 2010

Main article: 2010 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election
Ballot: 26 March 2010
Candidate Votes %
Pedro Passos Coelho 31,671 61.2
Paulo Rangel 17,821 34.4
José Pedro Aguiar Branco 1,769 3.4
Castanheira Barros 138 0.3
Blank/Invalid ballots 349 0.7
Turnout 51,748 66.26
Source: Resultados[15]

European Parliament election, 2014

Main article: 2014 European Parliament election in Portugal
Ballot: 25 May 2014
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
PS Francisco Assis 1,034,249 31.5 8 +1
PSD/CDS–PP Paulo Rangel 910,647 27.7 7 –3
CDU João Ferreira 416,925 12.7 3 +1
MPT Marinho e Pinto 234,788 7.2 2 +2
BE Marisa Matias 149,764 4.6 1 –2
Livre Rui Tavares 71,495 2.2 0 new
PAN Orlando Figueiredo 56,431 1.7 0 new
PCTP/MRPP Leopoldo Mesquita 54,708 1.7 0 ±0
Other parties 111,765 3.4 0 ±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 243,681 7.4 – –
Turnout 3,284,452 33.67 21 –1
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[16]

European Parliament election, 2019

Main article: 2019 European Parliament election in Portugal
Ballot: 26 May 2019
Party Candidate Votes % Seats +/−
PS Pedro Marques 1,104,694 33.4 9 +1
PSD Paulo Rangel 725,399 21.9 6 ±0
BE Marisa Matias 325,093 9.8 2 +1
CDU João Ferreira 228,045 6.9 2 –1
CDS–PP Nuno Melo 204,792 6.2 1 ±0
PAN Francisco Guerreiro 168,015 5.1 1 +1
Alliance Paulo Sande 61,652 1.9 0 new
Livre Rui Tavares 60,446 1.8 0 ±0
Basta! André Ventura 49,388 1.5 0 new
NC Paulo de Morais 34,634 1.1 0 new
Other parties 116,743 2.7 0 ±0
Blank/Invalid ballots 235,748 3.5 – –
Turnout 3,307,644 30.75 21 ±0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições[17]

PSD leadership election, 2021

Main article: 2021 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election
Ballot: 27 November 2021
Candidate Votes %
Rui Rio 18,852 52.4
Paulo Rangel 17,106 47.6
Blank/Invalid ballots 518 –
Turnout 36,476 78.17
Source: Resultados[18]

References

  1. ^ Rodrigues, Andreia (2024-03-28). "Paulo Rangel, que no Parlamento europeu questionou Pedro Sánchez, será o número 2 do futuro Governo". El Trapezio (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  2. ^ Alexandra Brzozowski, Georgi Gotev and Jorge Valero (July 1, 2019), EU leaders entrenched over top jobs as EPP rebels against Merkel EurActiv.
  3. ^ Dave Keating (February 24, 2014), More Parliament candidates announced European Voice.
  4. ^ Ivo Oliveira (May 20, 2019), Portugal eyes big EU cash prize Politico Europe.
  5. ^ Constant Brand (October 13, 2010), Parliament stretches accord on working ties European Voice.
  6. ^ Zoran Radosavljevic (11 October 2022), Croatia meets all Schengen criteria, says EU Parliament rapporteur Euractiv.
  7. ^ Migration crisis and EU-UK negotiations top the EPP Political Assembly’s agenda European People’s Party (EPP), press release of 29 January 2016.
  8. ^ Sofia Diogo Mateus (January 11, 2021), Portuguese people to know in the Brussels Bubble Politico Europe.
  9. ^ Mia Bartoloni (January 15, 2021), Movers and Shakers The Parliament Magazine.
  10. ^ Sofia Diogo Mateus (January 11, 2021), Portuguese people to know in the Brussels Bubble Politico Europe.
  11. ^ Paul Ames (28 November 2021), Rui Rio wins fight to lead Portugal’s center-right opposition into 2022 elections Politico Europe.
  12. ^ Paulo Rangel assume homossexualidade: "nunca escondi, não é segredo" (Diário de Notícias) https://www.dn.pt/politica/paulo-rangel-assume-homossexualidade-nunca-escondi-nao-e-segredo-14088169.html
  13. ^ Rangel fala publicamente sobre a sua homossexualidade: "Não é problema nenhum, é uma coisa que nunca escondi" (Observador) https://observador.pt/2021/09/04/rangel-fala-publicamente-sobre-homossexualidade-nao-e-problema-nenhum-e-uma-coisa-que-nunca-escondi/
  14. ^ "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 1/2009" (PDF). Diário da República. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Congressos e Eleições diretas". PSD. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  16. ^ "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 1/2014" (PDF). Diário da República. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 5/2019" (PDF). Diário da República. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  18. ^ "Resultados Diretas 2021" (PDF). PSD. Retrieved 7 August 2024.