portugal country profile

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Portugal country profile

Portugal, a country with a rich history of seafaring and discovery, looks outfrom the Iberian peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean.

When it handed over its last overseas territory, Macau, to Chinese administrationin 1999, it brought to an end a long and sometimes turbulent era as a colonialpower.

The roots of that era stretch back to the 15th century when Portuguese explorerssuch as Vasco da Gama put to sea in search of a passage to India. By the 16thcentury these sailors had helped build a huge empire embracing Brazil as well asswathes of Africa and Asia. There are still some 200 million Portuguese speakersaround the world today.

Portugal's history has had a lasting impact on the culture of the country withMoorish and Oriental influences in architecture and the arts. Traditional folkdance and music, particularly the melancholy fado, remain vibrant.

Portugal includes severalislands, including Madeira and the Azores, pictured

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At a glance

Politics: Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho from the Social Democrats heads a coalition with thePopular Party

Economy: Eurozone member Portugal was bailed out by the EU and IMF in 2011 with a 78bn-europackage. The loan came in exchange for a pledge to reduce the public deficit

International: Portugal is a founding member of Nato and joined the EEC (later EU) in 1986

Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

For almost half of the 20th century Portugal was a dictatorship in which fordecades Antonio de Oliveira Salazar was the key figure. The dictatorship'sstubborn refusal to relinquish its grip on the former colonies as demands forindependence gained momentum there resulted in expensive wars in Africa.

This period was brought to an end in 1974 in a bloodless coup, picturesquely

known as the Revolution of the Carnations, which ushered in a new democracy.

By the end of 1975 all of Portugal's former colonies in Africa were independent ofLisbon.

Since becoming a member of the then European Community in 1986, Portugal'straditionally largely agricultural economy became increasingly diversified andorientated towards the service sector.

It experienced solid growth in the 1990s, but GDP per head remains well under

the EU average. The 2008 financial crisis left Portugal with a ballooning budgetdeficit, and in 2011 it became the third EU country after Greece and Ireland toask international lenders for emergency assistance.

A 78bn-euro EU/IMF bailout was awarded on condition that Portugal reduces itsdeficit to bring it closer to the official EU target of 3% of GDP, leaving thegovernment with little choice but to pass a series of austerity budgets.

http://monitor.bbc.co.uk/






Portugal's Porto region has for long been a source of fine wines

Portugal profile Full name: Portuguese Republic

Population: 10.7 million (UN, 2012)

Capital: Lisbon

Area: 92,345 sq km (35,655 sq miles)

Major language: Portuguese

Major religion: Christianity

Life expectancy: 77 years (men), 83 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: 1 euro = 100 cents

Main exports: Textiles and clothing, wood products, electrical equipment

GNI per capita: US $21,250 (World Bank, 2011)

Internet domain: .pt

International dialling code: +351



Portugal saw solid growth in the 1990s but needed a bail-out in 2011

President: Anibal Cavaco Silva

President Anibal Cavaco Silva

Anibal Cavaco Silva won the January 2006 presidential poll, becoming the first

centre-right president since the coup of 1974.

He defeated two Socialist candidates to win a first round election victory.

Although the role mainly ceremonial, the president can appoint prime ministers,dissolve parliament and call elections.

Prime minister: Pedro Passos Coelho



Mr Passos Coelho heads a centre-right coalition government formed in June2011 and charged with steering the country out of financial crisis.

Passos Coelho has the task of steering the countryout of troubled economic waters

His Social Democratic Party won parliamentary elections, but as it failed to gainsufficient seats to govern alone it teamed up with the Popular Party.

His government was compelled to implement austerity measures and economicreforms in return for a rescue package.

On taking office Mr Passos Coelho said that his new government consideredbringing the country's public finances under control to be an "urgent imperative".

He said government objectives would be carried out "in conformity" with thebailout agreement signed with the European Union and IMF. Under the deal thecountry was obliged to cut the budget deficit to 5.9 percent of gross domesticproduct in 2011 from 9.1 percent in 2010.

The government pushed through several tough packages of public spendingcuts, but backed down on a social security tax rise when the proposed increasetriggered mass street protests in September 2012.

Mr Passos Coelho made progress in reducing the deficit, but faced renewedtension within his coalition in the summer of 2013, with the Popular Partyunhappy with the intensity of austerity measures.

The debt crisis in Portugal, alongside the crisis in Ireland and the most serious

crisis in Greece, has given rise to deep concerns over the resilience of theEuropean Union's economy.

Portugal's commercial TVs have a lion's share of the viewing audience, andprovide tough competition for the public broadcaster.



Portugal has a lively mediascene

Public TV is operated by RTP. The main private networks are TVI and SIC.Multichannel TV is available via cable, satellite, digital terrestrial and internetprotocol TV (IPTV). Cable is the dominant platform.

The switchover to digital TV was completed in 2012.

The public radio, RDP, competes with national commercial networks, RomanCatholic station Radio Renascenca and some 300 local and regional outlets.

Press freedom is guaranteed under the constitution and laws against insultingthe government or armed forces are rarely enforced, says Freedom House.

There were 5.9 million internet users by June 2012 (Internetworldstats).

The press

Diario de Noticias - daily

Publico - daily

Correio da Manha - daily

Jornal de Noticias - daily

Expresso - weekly

The Portugal News - English-language weekly

Algarve Resident - English-language weekly

Algarve Daily News - English-language

Television

RTP - public, operates RTP1, RTP2 and external services RTP Africa, RTP Internacional

SIC - commercial, channels include cable news station SIC Noticias

TVI - commercial

http://www.dn.pt/

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http://www.theportugalnews.com/


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http://www.rtp.pt/EPG/tv/


http://sic.sapo.pt/

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http://www.tvi.iol.pt/



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A prisoner is led away during the 1910 LisbonRevolution which deposed the king

Salazar era 1932 - Salazar becomes prime minister.

1933 - "New State" ("Estado Novo") constitution.

1936 - Salazar backs General Franco's nationalists in Spanish Civil War.

1939-45 - Portugal maintains official neutrality during World War II, but allows UKto use air bases in Azores.

1947 - Government crushes attempted revolt, deports labour leaders and armyofficers to Cape Verde Islands.


Antonio de Oliveira Salazar: PM for 36 years

Became finance minister in 1928

Premier from 1932; established authoritarian "Estado Novo" political system

Gave up premiership after stroke in 1968; died in 1970

1949 - Portugal becomes founding member of Nato.

1955 - Portugal joins United Nations.






1955 - Indian opposition to Portuguese territory leads to severed diplomatic ties.

1958 - Admiral Americo Tomas appointed president.

1961 - India annexes Portuguese Goa. Rebellion breaks out in Angola, Guinea

and Mozambique.

1968 - Salazar succeeded by Marcello Caetano.

1970 - Salazar dies.

Coup 1974 - Caetano government overthrown by group of army officers. General

Antonio Ribeiro de Spinola becomes president, succeeded by General Franciscoda Costa Gomes.

1974-75 - Independence for Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau,Mozambique, Cape Verde Islands, Sao Tome and Principe, and Angola.

After more than 450 years in power, Portugal withdraws from Portuguese Timor -now East Timor - which is then occupied by Indonesia.

Huge influx of expatriates from former colonies.


Dawn of a new era

Revolution of the Carnations in 1974 ended Europe's longest dictatorship

Military staged bloodless coup on 25 April, now celebrated as a holiday

New regime started programme of rapid decolonisation

Over next decade a stable two-party system emerged






1974: Rebels seize control of Portugal

1976 - Parliamentary elections. Mario Soares becomes prime minister. General Antonio Ramalho Eanes wins presidency.

1979 - Centre-right alliance wins elections.

Civilian government 1982 - Military Council of the Revolution abolished, civilian government formallyrestored.

1983 - Soares returns as prime minister.

1985 - Cavaco Silva becomes prime minister.

1986 January - Portugal becomes member of EEC (later EU).

Mario Soares elected president.

1987 - Cavaco Silva wins absolute majority in parliament.

1991 - Soares re-elected president.

1995 - Antonio Guterres becomes prime minister.

1996 - Jorge Sampaio elected president.

1999 - Last overseas territory, Macau, handed over to Chinese administration.

2001 - Jorge Sampaio elected for a second presidential term.

2001 December - Alqueva project on the Guadiana River nears completion asEurope's largest artificial lake, condemned by environmentalists as destructive,grandiose and unnecessary.

2001 December - Prime Minister Guterres resigns after his Socialist Party suffers

unexpectedly heavy losses in local elections. Parliament is dissolved, earlygeneral election set for March 2002.

2002 January - Euro replaces the escudo.

Barroso government

http://www.bbc.com/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25/newsid_4754000/4754581.stm





2002 March - Social Democrat leader Jose Manuel Durao Barroso forms centre-right coalition after general election in which Socialists are defeated.

2003 August - Government declares a national calamity as forest fires sweepacross vast areas of woodland. Officials say an area the size of Luxembourg has

been lost to the fires. At least 18 people are killed; damage is estimated at onebillion euros.

2004 July - Mr Barroso resigns as prime minister to become president of theEuropean Commission. Pedro Santana Lopes, his successor as leader of SocialDemocratic Party, forms government.

2004 December - Four months into Prime Minister Lopes' government, PresidentSampaio calls early elections.

Wildfires swept Portugalfollowing a drought in 2005

2005 February - Socialists sweep to victory in general elections. They usher ineconomic and social reforms which provoke a series of protest strikes amongpublic sector workers.

2005 August - Portugal calls for outside help as deadly wildfires, exacerbated bydrought and said to be the worst in recent times, rage across the country.

2006 January - Anibal Cavaco Silva, centre-right prime minister of 1985-1995,elected president.

2007 March - Mass demonstrations - the largest in recent years - againstgovernment's economic reforms.

2007 April - President endorses new law permitting abortion in first ten weeks ofpregnancy, aligning Portugal with most other EU countries.



2007 July - Portugal takes over EU presidency.

2008 April - Portuguese parliament votes overwhelmingly in favour of ratifyingEU's new treaty. European leaders had signed the treaty at a special summit inLisbon in December 2007.

2008 May - Parliament votes to bring spelling of Portuguese language more inline with Brazilian practice. Opponents of the move say it is a capitulation toBrazilian influence.

2009 September - Governing Socialist Party wins re-election but loses its overallmajority.

2009 October - Socialist Party leader Jose Socrates forms minority government.

Economic crisis

2010 March - Tens of thousands of civil servants hold one-day strike in protestagainst plans to freeze public sector workers' pay.

Government announces package of austerity measures, including cuts in publicspending and tax increases, to reduce Portugal's budget deficit.

2010 March-July - As eurozone debt crisis mounts, several leading credit ratingagencies downgrade Portugal's government debt, further underminingconfidence in the Portuguese economy.

2010 October - Portugal wins non-permanent seat on UN Security Council. Two-year term will begin on 1 January 2011.

2010 November - Parliament passes austerity budget aimed at bringing downhigh public debt levels.

2011 March - Government resigns after parliament rejects new austeritypackage. Jose Socrates continues as PM in caretaker capacity.

2011 April - Portugal becomes the third European Union country after Greeceand Ireland to apply for EU financial assistance to help it cope with its budgetdeficit.

Bailout 2011 May - The European Union and International Monetary Fund agree a 78bn-euro bailout for Portugal, on condition of sweeping spending cuts.



2011 June - Parliamentary elections. Ruling Socialist Party ousted. WinningSocial Democratic Party forms governing coalition with the Popular Party.

2011 July - Credit ratings agency Moody's downgrades Portugal's public debt to junk status.

2011 August - The government announces the country's biggest spending cuts in50 years. The cuts are intended to reduce public spending from 44.2% of GDP to43.5% by 2015.

2011 October - Portugal's government submits another package of spending cutsand tax increases to parliament in an effort to meet the terms of the country's78bn-euro bailout.

Strikes 2011 November - Hundreds of thousands of workers go on strike a week beforeparliament is due to vote on the government's programme of spending cuts andtax rises. It is only the third general strike since Portugal became a democracy inthe 1970s.

Credit ratings agency Fitch downgrades Portugal's public debt to junk status.

2012 January - Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgradesPortugal's rating to junk status.

The country's two largest unions, the CGTP and the UGT, split over whether tosign up to the labour law reform proposed by the government under the terms ofthe international bailout. The more moderate UGT reaches an agreement withthe government.

2012 March - Major cities grind to a halt as public sector workers stage 24-hourgeneral strike in protest at the labour law reform and austerity measures agreedby government in return for the international bailout.

2012 August - Figures show that Portugal's GDP shrank 1.2% in the second

quarter.

2012 September - The EU, IMF and European Central Bank give Portugalanother year to reduce its deficit below the EU target of 3% of GDP, after notingprogress in rebalancing the economy.

2012 November - Parliament passes a budget promising another year ofausterity measures.



2013 July - Several senior ministers resign over the handling of the economiccrisis, but the government survives.

2013 November - Government approves more spending cuts, mainly affectingpublic-sector employees' wages, conditions and pensions, in order to avoid a

second international bailout.

portugal country profile

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