Portugal - Personal background

José Manuel Durão Barroso was born in Lisbon 23 March 1956. As a young student, he became involved in the activist organization, Movimiento Reorganizativo del Partido del Proletariado (Reorganized Movement of the Party of the Proletariat—MRPP). He enrolled in the University of Lisbon, where his professors described him as a brilliant student; he received a degree in law in 1978. Durão Barroso then moved to Switzerland to study political science and European studies at the University of Geneva. After a brief time at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he completed some specialized courses, he returned to Portugal to join the faculty of the University of Lisbon. When a reporter characterized him as an opportunist—always in the right place at the right time—he responded, with an undertone of sarcasm: "I was the top law student in my year. Surely because I was lucky. I did a master's in Geneva, and scored the best results ever. Of course, I was lucky. I was a member of the government of Anibal Cavaço Silva when I was 29. Surely because I was lucky. At 36 I was one of the youngest Foreign Ministers ever in Europe. Once again, lucky. I think the country desperately needs some good luck." Durão Barroso is married and he and his wife have three children.

He has published a number of books, including Sistema de governo e sistema partidário (1980); Le système politique portugais face à la intégration européenne (1983); Política de cooperação (1990); A política externa portuguesa 1992–93 (1994); A política externa portuguesa 1994–95 (1995); and Uma Certa Ideia de Europa (1999).