Rui Rio

Rui Rio     ( politician)
Born	Rui Fernando da Silva Rio 6 August 1957  Porto,  Portugal
Nationality	Portuguese
Alma mater	•  Deutsche Schule zu Porto •  University of Porto
Children	Marta
Spouse	Lídia Azevedo
Party	Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
Portuguese politician of the Social Democratic Party who attended Bilderberg 2008.  Mayor of Porto In office 8 January 2002 - 22 October 2013  Secretary-General of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal) In office 29 March 1996 - 20 June 1997  President of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal) In office 18 February 2018 - 1 July 2022  Portugal/Leader of the Opposition  In office 18 February 2018 - 1 July 2022

Rui Fernando da Silva Rio is a Portuguese politician of the Social Democratic Party who attended Bilderberg 2008.

Education

Rio studied at the Colégio Alemão do Porto (the German School of Porto), and took a degree in economics at the University of Porto, where he was president of the Student Association, at the time the only Student Association that was not led by members of the Communist Party, and a member of the Pedagogical Council.

Career

As an economist, he began his professional life in the textile industry. In the mid-1980s, he began in the banking sector, becoming a manager at Banco Comercial Português.

Rio began his political career as part of the Juventude Social-Democrata (JSD), the Social Democrats' youth organization. He was Vice President of its National Political Commission from 1982 to 1984. At the same time he was a member of the National Political Commission of the Social Democratic Party, under Pinto Balsemão and later Mota Pinto. He was also deputy to the Assembly of the Republic, between 1991 and 2002. From 2002 to 2005, he was vice-president, under leaders Durão Barroso and, subsequently, Pedro Santana Lopes. Repeating the position, between 2008 and 2010, with Manuela Ferreira Leite. Between 1996 and 1998, he was Vice President of the Instituto Sá Carneiro. From 2003 to 2005 he was President of the Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular.

In 2001, Rio was elected Mayor of Porto sitting until October 2013.

In 2018, Rio won the race to become leader of the PSD. In the 2022 Portuguese legislative election, the Social Democrats lost 2 seats, taking them to 77 seats in the Assembly. In the aftermath of the election, Rio announced he would call early internal elections on which he would not run again for party leader.

Criticism of Freemasonry

Following his party's internal elections, which he disputed against Luís Montenegro and Miguel Pinto Luz, Rio stated that Freemasonry "is everywhere" and trying to "condition Portuguese society" by giving this organization obscure and untransparent motivations. Rio's statements were a response to Paulo Mota Pinto, who referred to Rio for further clarification on the alleged "dark interests" who want to dominate the party. Rio made statements in January 2019 regarding Montenegro's Freemansonry ties.

Rio admitted to perceiving Paulo Mota Pinto's reference and replied: "When I am talking about secret, obscure, little transparent interests, I am referring clearly to Freemasonry." He further went on saying that he "senses" that the Freemasons "are everywhere and trying to condition many things", and that he has "no doubt about that". Rio clarified that if he denied such influences he would be a "hypocrite" and that he is the only one with enough courage to criticize the Freemasons' influence.

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2008	5 June 2008	8 June 2008	US Virginia Chantilly	The 56th Bilderberg, Chantilly, Virginia, 139 guests

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