Celeste Cardona is Portuguese lawyer and politician. She is a former Minister of Justice and a former deputy in the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal.

Early life

Maria Celeste Ferreira Lopes Cardona was born on 30 June 1951 in Anadia in the

Aveiro District Aveiro District ( pt, Distrito de Aveiro, or ) is located in the central coastal region of Portugal. The capital of the district is the city of Aveiro, which also serves as the seat of Aveiro Municipality. Aveiro District is bordered by the Po ...

of Portugal. She graduated in law at the Faculty of Law of the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, t ...

, following this with a master's degree in tax law and a doctorate in legal and economic sciences, presenting a thesis on independent regulatory authorities.

Career

Cardona taught administrative and tax law as an assistant professor at the University of Lisbon law faculty. She also worked for the Portuguese Centre for Tax Studies at the Ministry of Finance and has represented Portugal at the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

. She was appointed administrator of

Caixa Geral de Depósitos Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) () is a Portuguese state-owned banking corporation, and the largest bank in Portugal, established in Lisbon in 1876. CGD now has presence in 23 countries spanning four continents through branches, representative ...

(CGD) a state-owned bank, in 2005. In this context she was criticised for her role in the CGD's loan of money to a leading Portuguese businessman,

Joe Berardo José Manuel Rodrigues "Joe" Berardo GCIH, ComIH (born 4 July 1944), is a Portuguese and South African businessman, investor, and art collector. According to Portuguese magazine ''Exame'', he had an estimated net worth of €598 million in 201 ...

. She became a member of the general and supervisory board of the

EDP Group EDP - Energias de Portugal (formerly Electricidade de Portugal) is a Portuguese electric utilities company, headquartered in Lisbon. It was founded in 1976 through the merger of 14 nationalised electricity companies. History EDP was founded as ' ...

, Portugal's largest energy company, after its final phase of nationalisation in 2012. Cardona also continues to consult on legal issues relating to tax. She teaches at the Lusíada University and has published several articles on tax issues.

Political career

Following the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lis ...

in 1974, which overthrew the authoritarian '' Estado Novo'' regime, Cardona joined the Democratic and Social Centre, now the

CDS – People's Party The CDS – People's Party ( pt, CDS – Partido Popular, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)

. In 1992 she supported

Manuel Monteiro Manuel Fernando da Silva Monteiro (Anissó, Vieira do Minho, 1 April 1962) is a Portuguese jurist, professor and former politician. Early years Manuel Monteiro started his political life during his youth. He was elected president of the People ...

for the leadership of the party. After his victory, she was, successively, a member of the CDS-PP Steering Committee, its National Council, its Political Commission and its Lisbon Political Committee. Cardona was a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

between January 1997 and July 1999, the last term of the Parliament without direct elections. In 1999 she was asked to head the list of the party's candidates for

Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...

in the national elections and was elected to the Assembly of the Republic in that year, being re-elected in 2002 until 2005. In April 2002 her party became part of a coalition government and she was appointed Minister of Justice, losing the position when the government changed in July 2004.

Honours and awards

*On 6 March 1998, Cardona was made a Grand Officer of the Portuguese

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardona, Celeste 1951 births Living people Government ministers of Portugal Women government ministers of Portugal Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Women members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) CDS – People's Party politicians CDS – People's Party MEPs 20th-century Portuguese women politicians 20th-century Portuguese politicians