Isabel Meirelles

Meirelles worked as an assistant to the Minister of Justice in 1980 and 1981. She then worked for the Minister for the Autonomous Region of the Azores before returning to various positions with the Ministry of Justice. In 2001 she worked as an advisor to the former Institute of Communications of Portugal. In 2003-04 she chaired the committee overseeing the establishment of the Agência Portuguesa de Segurança Alimentar (Portuguese Food Security Agency – APSA) and was briefly its first president, representing Portugal at meetings of the European Food Safety Authority.^[1][2][3]

In 2006-07 Meirelles lectured at the European Institute for Public Administration (EIPA) in Luxembourg, returning to Portugal to work again with the Ministry of Justice, advising its European Law Office. More recently, she has worked in a law firm that she set up together with her ex-husband, Luís Vasconcelos Salgado. She has lectured at the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, at the ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, at the Universidade Lusófona, and at the School of Social Communication of the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon. Meirelles is also known for her regular media appearances to discuss European issues.^[1][2][3]

Meirelles’ first political role was as a councillor in the Oeiras municipality, to the west of the capital, Lisbon. In 2018 she was elected as vice-president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

In the 2019 elections, Meirelles was elected as a deputy to the Assembly of the Republic on the PSD's list for Lisbon, serving on the Committee for European Affairs and on the Committee for Labour, Social Security and Inclusion. She was re-elected in the 2022 elections, being third on the PSD list for Lisbon, with the party winning 13 seats in that constituency.^[3][4][5][6]

In addition to her committee assignments, Mereilles has been a member of the Portuguese delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) since 2020.^[7] In the Assembly, she has served on the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy (since 2020) and the Sub-Committee on External Relations (2021–2022).