Aníbal Cavaco Silva was elected president of Portugal in 2006 and re-elected in 2011, standing as an independent candidate. The longest-serving Portuguese prime minister, from 1985 to 1995, Mr Cavaco Silva left a mark of firmness in the application of a vast number of structural reforms in his country.

He was an active player in the process that led to the acceleration of European construction in response to the new geopolitical reality in the 1990s. Mr Cavaco Silva played a central part in various key European decisions, including during the preparation of the European Union Maastricht Treaty. Currently he is the last on-duty European politician among the leaders who built the European Union as we know it today.

He headed the studies office in the Bank of Portugal, and later he held office as minister for finance and planning (1980–81) and chaired the National Planning Council (1981–84). He was president of the PSD (Social Democratic Party) from May 1985 to February 1995.

Mr Cavaco Silva graduated with a degree in finance from Lisbon University and completed a PhD at the University of York, in the United Kingdom, with a dissertation on macro economies of public debt. He was a full professor at Universidade Nova and Universidade Católica Portuguesa, both in Lisbon.