Paulo Rangel
Rangel in 2024
Minister of State and of Foreign Affairs
Assumed office
2 April 2024
Prime MinisterLuís Montenegro
Preceded byJoão Gomes Cravinho
Member of the European Parliament
In office
14 July 2009 – 1 April 2024
ConstituencyPortugal
Vice President of the Social Democratic Party
Assumed office
3 July 2022
PresidentLuís Montenegro
Preceded byAna Paula Martins
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 serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2009. He also serves as treasurer of the European People's Party under the leadership of its president Manfred Weber.[1]

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–present

Rangel has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since the 2009 European elections. Ahead of the 2014 European elections, the PSD named Rangel at the top of their list.[2] In the 2019 European elections, he served as his party’s lead candidate again.[3]

In parliament, Rangel has been serving on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs since 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.[4] 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 has been serving as the parliament’s rapporteur on Croatia’s accession to the Schengen zone.[5]

In addition to his committee assignments, Rangel has been serving 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 (since 2021), and Montenegro (since 2021).

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 has been chairing the Working Group on EPP Membership since 2016.[6] In this capacity, he notably decided to suspend the Fidesz party in 2020.[7] 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.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10]

Other activities

Personal life

In 2021, Paulo Rangel publicly came out about his homosexuality.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ Alexandra Brzozowski, Georgi Gotev and Jorge Valero (July 1, 2019), EU leaders entrenched over top jobs as EPP rebels against Merkel EurActiv.
  2. ^ Dave Keating (February 24, 2014), More Parliament candidates announced European Voice.
  3. ^ Ivo Oliveira (May 20, 2019), Portugal eyes big EU cash prize Politico Europe.
  4. ^ Constant Brand (October 13, 2010), Parliament stretches accord on working ties European Voice.
  5. ^ Zoran Radosavljevic (11 October 2022), Croatia meets all Schengen criteria, says EU Parliament rapporteur Euractiv.
  6. ^ Migration crisis and EU-UK negotiations top the EPP Political Assembly’s agenda European People’s Party (EPP), press release of 29 January 2016.
  7. ^ Sofia Diogo Mateus (January 11, 2021), Portuguese people to know in the Brussels Bubble Politico Europe.
  8. ^ Mia Bartoloni (January 15, 2021), Movers and Shakers The Parliament Magazine.
  9. ^ Sofia Diogo Mateus (January 11, 2021), Portuguese people to know in the Brussels Bubble Politico Europe.
  10. ^ Paul Ames (28 November 2021), Rui Rio wins fight to lead Portugal’s center-right opposition into 2022 elections Politico Europe.
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ 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/

External links


Current Members of the European Parliament from Portugal (2019–2024)
List of members of the European People's Party group (2019–2024)
Authority control databases
Categories