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Ana Catarina Mendes

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Ana Catarina Mendes
Official portrait, 2024
Member of the European Parliament
for Portugal
Incumbent
Assumed office
16 July 2024
Minister Adjunct and for Parliamentary Affairs
In office
30 March 2022 – 2 April 2024
Prime MinisterAntónio Costa
Preceded byTiago Antunes (Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime Minister)
Duarte Cordeiro (Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs)
Succeeded byManuel Castro Almeida (Minister Adjunct)
Pedro Duarte (Parliamentary Affairs)
Deputy Secretary-General of the Socialist Party
In office
9 December 2015 – 17 October 2019
Secretary-GeneralAntónio Costa
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJosé Luís Carneiro
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
In office
27 October 1995 – 15 July 2024
ConstituencySetúbal
Personal details
Born
Ana Catarina Veiga Santos Mendonça Mendes

(1973-01-14) 14 January 1973 (age 51)
Coimbra, Portugal
Political partySocialist Party
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2006; div. 2020)​
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Lisbon
University Institute of Lisbon

Ana Catarina Veiga dos Santos Mendonça Mendes (born 14 January 1973) is a Portuguese politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who has been a member of the Assembly of the Republic since 1995 and, from 2019, led the party in Parliament. In March 2022, she was appointed Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in the XXIII Constitutional Government, a position she held until after the March 2024 national election.[1]

Ana Catarina Mendes was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the 2024 European election, and sworn-in in the Tenth European Parliament.[2]

Early life

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Ana Catarina Veiga Santos Mendonça Mendes was born in Coimbra on 14 January 1973. She obtained an undergraduate law degree from the University of Lisbon and a master's degree in New Frontiers of Law from the ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon. Mendes led the Almada and the Setúbal District Federation of Socialist Youth (Juventude Socialista), the youth wing of the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS).

She was President of the Setúbal District Federation[3] of the Socialist Party from 2014 to 2015, when she was appointed Deputy Secretary-General.

She married Paulo Pedroso but they are now divorced.[4][5][6]

Political career

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Mendes served as a councillor in the Almada municipality from 1993 to 1997 and was elected to the national Assembly of the Republic in 1995 as a representative of the PS for Setúbal, a position she occupied until july, 15h of 2024.

She was President of the Setúbal District Federation[7] of the Socialist Party from 2014 to 2015, when she was appointed Deputy Secretary-General.[8]

From 2015 to 2019 she served as Deputy Secretary-General of the PS.[8] From 2019, she was the Socialist Party's first female Parliamentary Leader, in which role she stressed her intention to promote further diversity within the Parliamentary party.[4][5][8] Following the 2022 Portuguese legislative election, Mendes was appointed as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.[1] On June 26, 2024, she was elected Vice President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. [9]

Broadcasting

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Since early 2018 Mendes has been a regular political commentator on Portuguese television, beginning with Televisão Independente (TVI) and the radio station TSF, then moving to a weekly programme on the SIC Notícias television channel, before moving back to TVI.[10][11] She was replaced by Alexandra Leitão[12] in March 2022, after taking office as Deputy Minister and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.[1]

Personal life

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At the time of her appointment to the government in 2022, Mendes’ brother António Mendonça Mendes served as Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs and her sister-in-law Patrícia Melo e Castro was a member of Prime Minister Costa's staff.[13]

Member of the European Parliament

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On 16 July 2024, she was sworn in as a member of European Parliament, and is a member of Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), as a substitute in Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET).[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Ana Catarina Mendes, a dirigente do PS que chegou ao Governo". SIC Noticias. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  2. ^ Jerónimo, Mariana (9 June 2024). "Quem são os 21 eurodeputados que Portugal vai enviar para o Parlamento Europeu?" [Who are the 21 MEPs that Portugal is sending to the European Parliament?]. SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Partido Socialista Setúbal - Ana Catarina Mendes conquista a presidência da Federaçãot". Presidente da Federação de Setúbal do Partido Socialista (in Portuguese).
  4. ^ a b "Biografia Ana Catarina Veiga Santos Mendonça Mendes". Assembleia de República. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Registo de Interesses". Assembleia de República. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Ana Catarina Mendes sai em defesa de Paulo Pedroso". Sábado. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Partido Socialista Setúbal - Ana Catarina Mendes conquista a presidência da Federaçãot". Presidente da Federação de Setúbal do Partido Socialista (in Portuguese).
  8. ^ a b c "Ana Catarina Mendes eleita secretária-geral adjunta do PS com 84,84% dos votos". Observador (in Portuguese). Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament". Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament.
  10. ^ "Ana Catarina Mendes substitui Jorge Coelho na Circulatura do Quadrado". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Ana Catarina Mendes na Circulatura do Quadrado". Cision (in Portuguese). Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Alexandra Leitão passa a comentadora na TV. Ana Catarina Mendes sai a dizer que PS quer provar que maiorias "não são perniciosas"". Observador (in Portuguese).
  13. ^ Ivo Oliveira (28 March 2019), Family affair rocks Portuguese government Politico Europe.
  14. ^ "European Parliament - Ana Catarina Mendes". European Parliament.
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