User:Jeremy Wark/Maria João Rodrigues

Maria João Rodrigues (born 1955) is a portuguese scholar specialised in EU affairs and a retired politician. She was Minister for Qualifications and Employment of Portugal in the first government of Prime Minister António Guterres (1995-1997).

Known as the "mother of the Lisbon Strategy", she has been an expert on EU political economy and has notably served as special adviser to a number of elected representatives at both Portuguese and EU level (in particular to former Prime Minister Guterres and José Socrates, to the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, and to the former President of the Party of European Socialists Poul Nyrup Rasmussen).

Education
Maria João Rodrigues holds three Masters degrees and a PhD in economics from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne as well as a Degree in Sociology from the University of Lisbon.

Career
Professor of Economics at the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCT-IUL) since 1987, Maria João Rodrigues started her carreer in public affairs in 1993 as a consultant in the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, then headed by José Falcão e Cunha in the conservative government of Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva. Following the victory of the Socialist Party in the 1995 general elections, she was appointed Minister for Qualifications and Employment by Prime Minister António Guterres on 28 October 1995. She held this office until 25 November 1997, when she was dismissed. After she stepped down, the ministry was abolished and the constitutent parts were reallocated to other ministries. In the current government, the responsibilities of the former Minister for Qualifications and Employment have been reallocated to the Secretary of State for Employment and Vocational Training within the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity.

Maria João Rodrigues remained close to Prime Minister Guterres after her dismissal as Minister, and was appointed special adviser and Head of the Prime Minister's Forward Studies Unit in 1998. In this capacity, she played a dramatic role during the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union, in the first semester of 2000. The Portuguese Presidency notably succeeded in securing a compromise on the so-called Lisbon Strategy, a comprehensive plan that was aimed at boosting growth and employment level in the EU. The strategy was adopted at a extraordinary European Council meeting in Lisbon in March 2000, a meeting in which Maria João Rodrigues acted as a sherpa for the Prime Minister. She notably contributed to build a compromise between the delegations of the british and french governments, by resorting to the open method of coordination Maria João Rodrigues continued to monitor closely the developments of the Lisbon Strategy, in particular as Special Advisor to the Luxembourg Presidency of the European Union for the Mid-term Review of the Lisbon Strategy (2005) and special advisor to the European Commission on the Lisbon strategy.

Looking back on this experience in 2010, Maria João Rodrigues wrote "Even if there were clear failures, the implementation of the Lisbon strategy should not be considered a failure." . The Lisbon strategy is largely considered to have been a failure.

In 2007, she was appointed by Prime Minister José Socrates as special adviser for the European Union Presidency dealing with the Lisbon Treaty, the Lisbon Agenda and EU Summits with international partners. This mission came to end on 1 January 2008, when the rotating presidency of the European Union was handed over to Slovenia.

Currently, Maria João Rodrigues is a Professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles and the University of Lisbon. She is also active in several think tank and research institutions, for instance as member of the Governing Board of the European Policy Centre and of Notre Europe. She was until 2011 the chair of the advisory Group to the European Commission for Social Sciences and Humanities