View source for Margarida Balseiro Lopes

{{short description|Portuguese politician (born 1989)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    =
| name                = Margarida Balseiro Lopes
| honorific_suffix    =
| image               = Margarida Balseiro Lopes EYCS 13-5-2024 (cropped).jpg
| image_size          =
| image_upright       =
| alt                 =
| caption             = Balseiro Lopes in 2024
| office1             = Vice President of the [[Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|Social Democratic Party]]
| term_start1         = 3 July 2022
| term_end1           = 19 October 2024
| constituency1       =
| office              = [[XXIV Constitutional Government of Portugal|Minister of Youth and Modernization]]
| term_start          = 2 April 2024
| term_end            =
| predecessor         = ''Office established''
| successor           =
| birth_name          = Ana Margarida Balseiro de Sousa Lopes
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1989|09|24|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Marinha Grande]], [[Portugal]]
| death_date          =
| death_place         =
| death_cause         =
| resting_place       =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| party               = [[Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|Social Democratic]]
| spouse              =
| relations           =
| children            =
| mother              =
| father              =
| residence           =
| alma_mater          = [[University of Lisbon]]
| occupation          = [[Jurist]] • [[Politician]]
| signature           =
| website             =
| office2             = [[President of the Social Democratic Youth (Portugal)|President of the Social Democratic Youth]]
| termstart2          = 15 April 2018
| president2          =
| predecessor2        = Simão Ribeiro
| otherparty          = [[Social Democratic Youth (Portugal)|Social Democratic Youth]]
| office3             = {{MP PT}}
| term_start3         = 23 October 2015
| termend2            = 26 July 2020
| term_end3           = 28 March 2022
| constituency3       = [[Leiria (Assembly of the Republic constituency)|Leiria]]
| predecessor1        = António Maló de Abreu
| successor2          = [[Alexandre Poço]]
| president1          = [[Luís Montenegro]]
| primeminister       = [[Luís Montenegro]]
| successor1          = Lucinda Dâmaso
}}
'''Ana Margarida Balseiro de Sousa Lopes''' (born 24 September 1989) is a Portuguese jurist and politician. She was a member of the [[Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)|Assembly of the Republic]] of Portugal as a member of the liberal-conservative [[Social Democratic Party (Portugal)|Social Democratic Party]] (PSD) and a former president of [[Social Democratic Youth (Portugal)|Social Democratic Youth]] (JSD), the youth wing of the PSD. Following the [[2024 Portuguese legislative election|2024 national election]] she was appointed as Minister of Youth and Modernization by the [[Prime Minister of Portugal|Prime Minister]], [[Luís Montenegro]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Donn |first1=Natasha |title=Portugal's new government inches closer to ‘touchline’ |url=https://www.portugalresident.com/portugals-new-government-inches-closer-to-touchline/ |access-date=29 March 2024 |publisher=Portugal Resident |date=28 March 2024}}</ref>
==Early life and politics==
Margarida Balseiro Lopes was born in [[Marinha Grande]] in the [[Leiria District]] on 24 September 1989. She has a degree in law from the law faculty of the [[University of Lisbon]], and a master's degree in law and management from the [[Catholic University of Portugal]]. She is studying for a doctorate. From her time at school she was active in politics, being president of the students' union. Marinha Grande has a strong left-wing tradition and the youth wing of the liberal-conservative PSD was not functioning there. Lopes was responsible for restarting it. At university she was a student representative on the academic council of the law faculty.<ref name="AR">{{cite web |title=Biografia: Ana Margarida Balseiro de Sousa Lopes |url=https://www.parlamento.pt/DeputadoGP/Paginas/Biografia.aspx?BID=6207 |website=Assembleia da República |access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="PSD">{{cite web |title=Margarida Balseiro Lopes |url=https://www.psd.pt/pt/grupo-parlamentar/margarida-balseiro-lopes |website=Partido Social Democrata |access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="Lopes">{{cite web |title=O meu percurso |url=https://margaridabalseirolopes.pt/o-meu-percurso/ |website=Margarida Balseiro Lopes |access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref>
==Political career==
Beginning her political career in Marinha Grande, Lopes then became active in the JSD in Leiria District. She was also a councillor on the Marinha Grande municipal council. In 2015 she was elected as a deputy to the Assembly of the Republic on the PSD list for the [[Leiria (Assembly of the Republic constituency)|Leiria]] constituency and was re-elected in 2019.  In 2017 she went to the United States as part of the [[Department of State]]'s [[International Visitor Leadership Program]]. She has served on the Budget and Finance Committee of the parliament and has been an alternate on the Education, Science, Youth and Sport Committee. In April 2018 she was elected president of the JSD nationally, a position she relinquished in 2020.<ref name=AR/><ref name=PSD/><ref name=Lopes/> She was not a candidate in the [[2022 Portuguese legislative election|2022 legislative election]].
Lopes has been a regular contributor of articles to national Portuguese newspapers, particularly ''Correio da Manhã''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Margarida Balseiro Lopes |url=https://www.sabado.pt/autores/detalhe/margarida-balseiro-lopes |website=Correio da Manhã |access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:1989 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the 13th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)]]
[[Category:Members of the 14th Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)]]
[[Category:People from Marinha Grande]]
[[Category:Social Democratic Party (Portugal) politicians]]
[[Category:University of Lisbon alumni]]
[[Category:Women members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)]]