Editorial of June 2025

40 years since Portugal joined the European Union
(or about Constante’s refusal to jump, the dog from José Saramago’s “The Stone Raft”)

Pedro Madeira Froufe [Editor of this blog and Coordinator of the Group “Studies in European Union Law” (CEDU), of JUSGOV – Research Centre for Justice and Governance, University of Minho)]

I

Forty years ago, on 12 June 1985, in the Jerónimos Monastery (Lisbon), the Treaty of Accession of Portugal to the then European Economic Community (EEC) was signed – eight years after Portugal had formally applied for membership. This brings us back to the character named Constante, the dog in the 1986 novel “The Stone Raft” by José Saramago, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. In this novel, Saramago develops an allegory: the physical, geographical separation of the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of the European continent. In Saramago’s text, this unusual event with no scientific explanation (the separation of the Peninsula) is an allusion to what the author foresaw/feared would happen as part of the unification of Europe: the Iberian countries would be forgotten, cast aside, “sailing adrift”, unable to identify culturally, socially or economically with the rest of Europe. The dog Constante appears at the very beginning of the narrative, hesitating between Spain and France (“the rest of Europe”) as soon as he feels the first crack, and ends up jumping (opting) for the Peninsula, in the process of separation. We shall return to this character, the dog Constante, later in this text.

To begin with, and to give a brief historical overview of Portugal’s pre-accession phase, it was on 28 March 1977 – just after the so-called PREC (“ongoing revolutionary period”) had run its course and only three years after the “Carnation Revolution” (on 25 April 1974) – that the then Portuguese Foreign Minister, José Medeiros Ferreira, sent a letter formally requesting Portugal’s accession to the EEC. In other words, the Portuguese option for European integration was formally recognised as early as 1977.

It is important to remember that around two years earlier, Greece had applied for membership, favouring the direction of European integration at the time (during the 1970s) towards southern Europe. In a way, Greece’s accession in 1981 also signified a reunion of Europe (then “Community”) with its classical mythology. This mythology is at the origin of its name: Europa (Princess Europa and her abduction by a love-struck Zeus…).

In parallel with Portugal’s process and negotiations with the EEC, the process leading to Spain’s accession also began. Also, after many years of dictatorship (under General Franco) and, just as in Portugal, Spain was looking for a clear affirmation of its status as a European country, from a (mainly) political point of view.

The Iberian Peninsula, in the geographical south of Europe, is historically and culturally European. And the legacy of Enlightenment modernity and the democracy that unites the sociological and cultural diversity of the “old continent” are also marked in the historical path travelled on the Iberian Peninsula – regardless of the setbacks and mismatches with the rest of Europe (central and northern) that occurred more recently, during the 20^th century. In fact, both Iberian states experienced dictatorships for a considerable period of time.

As in the case of Portugal and Spain, very often accession – from the outset, the application and negotiations, as well as the work undertaken by the candidate state to fulfil the “Copenhagen criteria” (or “accession criteria”)[1] – is intended to strengthen and render irreversible the candidate’s choice of democracy and respect for the rule of law. Moreover, one of the necessary conditions imposed by the “accession criteria” is the existence in the candidate state of solid institutions that ensure – from the outset and beyond the functioning of a market or capitalist-based economy – democracy and respect for the rule of law. As well as – and this is also related to ensuring respect for the rule of law – the candidate state’s ability to fulfil its obligations to bring its legal system into line with EU law (the absorption of the so-called “acquis communautaire”).

It is understandable that membership often also serves as an aid to achieving internal political and social stability and economic development. With states that have experienced totalitarian regimes in their recent history, integration into the Union is also perceived as a guarantee of respect for a political choice. A guarantee that, regardless of internal circumstances, choosing a European model of society, organisation and the functioning of the state itself is relatively irreversible – as opposed to the dictatorships they have experienced. But it is also a guarantee that these states will move towards a market economy – or a “social market economy” – and realise the Union’s framework of values, set out in Article 2 TEU, on a day-to-day basis. These values are respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights, including those of people belonging to minorities.

Continuing to chart the stages of this journey – which began for Portugal on 28 March 1977 – about a year later, on 6 June 1978, the EEC Council of Ministers unanimously approved Portugal’s application for membership. The EEC was then made up of France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark.

The pre-accession agreement between the EEC and Portugal was signed on 18 December 1980. It was after this pre-accession agreement was signed and made operational that the allocation of European funds for the country’s development began. Two years later, on 17 November 1982, the European Parliament passed a resolution expressing the political will of the members of Parliament for Portugal and Spain to be admitted as members of the EEC.[2] This Resolution set 1 January 1984 as the deadline for the integration of the two Iberian states, recognising the importance of accession for both of them and also for the development of the EEC itself. Despite everything and the terms of the Resolution, it was only two years after the deadline set by the European Parliament that Portugal was effectively integrated (from 1 January 1986). However, in 1984 (18 December 1984) a second pre-accession agreement was signed between the EEC and Portugal, specifically providing for financial support to help the Portuguese agriculture and fishery sectors.

II

Forty years after the signing of the Treaty of Accession of Portugal to the EEC, what assessment can be made from a Portuguese and European perspective?

We believe that the effects of Portugal’s integration into the European project really began to manifest themselves in 1977, with the application for membership itself. The signing of the Accession Treaty – six months before this accession took place – was the formal culmination of this application, solidifying the respective pro-European option that presupposed it and which, for many, was an inevitable consequence of the “25^th of April” Revolution.

The end of the “Estado Novo” – in other words, the dictatorship and colonial war that motivated the so-called “Carnation Revolution” – implied the European choice. As we have mentioned, domestic political circumstances considerably determined the (relatively quick) path that led Portugal to join the European project, integrating itself into the “European Community.” It should be noted that the application for membership, as well as the first pre-accession agreement, took place even before the 1^st revision of the current Portuguese Constitution (Constitution approved on 2 April 1976). In other words, Portugal began its journey towards integration even before it had started a process of adapting its constitution to a standard of “democratic normalcy” – in terms of the functioning of its institutions, the full effectiveness of the principle of the separation of powers, [3] and the economic order. The first constitutional revision took place in 1982, abolishing the “Council of the Revolution” and creating and establishing the Constitutional Court. It was only after integration had taken effect (1 January 1986) that the second revision of the 1976 constitution took place, adjusting the constitutional economic system to the European “material economic constitution” established by the 1957 Treaty of Rome (EEC Treaty). That is, this second revision opened up the Portuguese constitutional text to an order marked by economic freedom, putting an end to the principle of the irreversibility of nationalisations (today, under the terms of Article 83 of the current constitutional text, “public appropriations” of means of production) carried out after and following the “25^th of April” of 1974.[4]

That being said, a first aspect that can be recorded as a positive effect of integration was, in short, the creation of conditions for political stability and the country’s transition to constitutional “democratic normality”, after the troubled (inevitably troubled) times immediately “post-revolution.” In other words, a firm transition to a materially democratic political and constitutional life after PREC. The simple fact that accession to the then EEC was adopted as a national priority created a kind of collective acceptance (at least a clear majority in the Portuguese population) of European-inspired “democratic order.” Constitutional stability (even in the context of a formal constitution conditioned by the aforementioned “MFA – Parties Pact”) was more easily achieved, under the pretext of that design – namely, the goal of joining the European project. It should be remembered that the First Constitutional Government – which emerged from the 1976 parliamentary elections[5] won by the Socialist Party and Mário Soares – established the “European option” as a priority from the outset, signalling at the end of 1976 (therefore, still during the PREC period) the signing of additional protocols to an agreement signed between Portugal and the EEC on financial and commercial matters in 1972 (still during the “Estado Novo” itself). [6]

Unlike the metaphor developed by Saramago in his work “The Stone Raft”, Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula did not move further south, away from Europe, but sailed assertively towards that same Europe. They sailed, perhaps more rigorously, with that same Europe! Unlike Constante, the dog character in “The Stone Raft”, Portugal, feeling the ground shaking – in other words, the whole period of political uncertainty and instability experienced during the so-called PREC – showed no hesitation in jumping over to the European side. This leap, decided and thought out, was undertaken as early as 1977, anticipating the risk of possible “cracks” that would effectively turn the Peninsula (and particularly Portugal) into an isolated and erratic “stone raft.” Even before the TEU and the (clear) wording of the current Article 2 of that Treaty, the compass that Portugal always wanted to use was that resulting from the reference framework for the Union (the framework of values set out in that Article 2).

Portugal’s immediate political motivations that led to its accession – and, from 1977 onwards, its commitment to creating the political and economic conditions that would allow for such European integration – involved the holistic development of the country.

In this context (in short, regarding the country’s modernisation), the available statistics (allowing a comparative analysis to be made between the country that lived through the “Estado Novo” dictatorship and the integrated country) are well known and revealing. They are indicative of Portugal’s evolution along the lines of the rest of integrated Europe. Despite the signs of some (tentative) openness seen at the end of the “Estado Novo”, the fact is that with the “25^th of April”, the urgency of overcoming the underdevelopment in which Portugal lived stood out from the outset, regardless of the immediate political consequences.

One shall recall the image that quickly became a national design, emerging from the “25^th of April” (the MFA’s motto): the three D’s that stood for “Democratise, Develop and Decolonise.” The pressing objective/need for development could only be achieved effectively (and more easily) in the context of “post-25^th of April” Portugal with the leap towards accession. As an example (because it is particularly striking), one can examine the data on the infant mortality rate in Portugal before 1974 (before the “25^th of April”), before 1986 (accession to the EEC), and today. The positive trend is remarkable: in 1974, around 38 children under the age of one died for every thousand births; in 2022, around 2.6 children under the age of one died for every thousand births.[7]

On the other hand, if we focus on the legal system and the guarantee of a democratic political and legal experience that makes the rule of law a reality, we can credit European integration with at least a partial but relevant contribution to a certain “modernisation” of that system. By “modernisation” we mean, above all, strengthening the rights that make up the political and economic status of the citizen. Inevitably, the progressive and reinforced defence of the core of fundamental rights enjoyed by European citizens and the respective enlargement (for example, with the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union) also means this same reinforcement.

The “Europeanisation” of Member States’ legal systems, contributing to a trend towards the transnationalisation of law in the Union’s regional area, assists this “modernisation” and also promotes a legal way of life (and therefore citizenship) that is more in tune with current conditions. By way of example – among many, with a direct impact on citizens’ daily lives – we can mention the evolution and improvement of the general personal data protection regime and the development (now decades old) of the whole area (and “praxis”) of environmental protection law. The legal and economic order, the perfecting of a matrix of economic freedom, framed by social and territorial cohesion – in other words, a “social market economy” – is also, to a decisive extent, the result of accession.

But from the point of view of the Union (to put it more broadly and less strictly, from the point of view of an integrated Europe), what added value has Portugal’s accession brought?

Going back to the 1970s and early 1980s, the simple fact of considering Portugal (and Spain) as candidate states for accession ended up reinforcing the “European way/option” that was followed internally. This option helped to keep the western end of Europe (geographically speaking) away from the risks of a possible “non-European” and “non-Western” geopolitical drift – which would inevitably bring instability (political, social and economic) to the other Member States. At a time when the “cold war” was still raging, the EEC (European integration) could not run the risk of having a platform at its western end for the propagation of anti-European values (at least from a political point of view).

After all, as is clear from, for instance, the “Cassis de Dijon” case-law,[8] the cultural, sociological and economic diversity of the different European countries and peoples has a common denominator that naturally allows us to affirm a nuclear unity. There is a political and legal bloc in which each state sees itself as belonging to the same community and sharing the same civilizational identity (unity in diversity). And the reinforcement of this multiversity has the effect (when framed by the law and the framework of values set out in Article 2 of the TEU) of reinforcing this unity and these advantages, first and foremost in terms of economic options and solutions (more options and more solutions, made available to the “bloc”), there naturally being an economic ordering regime based on economic freedom (a “material economic constitution”, deriving from the Treaties and European case-law, which is guided by the “free movement of all factors of production”).

Geopolitically, the accession of Portugal (and Spain), after Greece had joined five years earlier (January 1, 1981), was the first step towards European integration achieving a geographical dimension, which tended to be continental. This enlargement towards the south of Europe was the first step (before the “fall of the Berlin Wall”) towards the great enlargement, which took place on May 1, 2004[9] (now towards the east and some 18 years after Portugal’s effective integration).

This is why Portugal’s (and Spain’s) accession 40 years ago turned out to be, both objectively (in terms of the development of these Member States) and from the perspective of strengthening the solidity of the integrated “European bloc” (resulting from the openness to diversity that is intrinsic to the values of integration), a win-win scenario for everyone…

[1] The “Copenhagen criteria” or “accession criteria” were established at the Copenhagen European Council in 1993 and reaffirmed in 1995 at the Madrid European Council. They are the requirements necessary for a state to become eligible (by fulfilling these criteria) to be a candidate for accession to the Union. See Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU).

[2] Official Journal of the European Communities, No C 334/82, 54.

[3] The so-called “Constitutional Agreement Platform” [Plataforma de Acordo Constitucional] or “MFA (Armed Forces Movement) – Parties Pact” – whose creation and implementation was proposed by Álvaro Cunhal, then leader of the Portuguese Communist Party, at the end of 1974 – was a compromise between the Armed Forces (the military power) and the political parties on the political future of the country and on the general lines of the Constitution that was to be drafted (the current 1976 Constitution). In essence, it ended up being a compromise between existing factions within the military (the MFA) who were opposed to elections and, on the other hand, those who were in favour of them – in other words, not only the existing political parties, but also a significant part of the MFA itself. This Pact was signed on April 11, 1975, and provided for a “transition period” of 3 to 5 years. The Platform or “MFA-Party Pact” guaranteed, among other things, that the Council of the Revolution would exercise vigilance to ensure that the MFA’s program was not overtaken or forgotten, demanding not only the constitutional enshrinement of the “principles of the Armed Forces Movement’s Program” but also the “achievements legitimately obtained throughout the process, as well as the developments to the Program or Platform imposed by the revolutionary dynamic that irreversibly committed the country to the original path towards Portuguese Socialism.” (Freely translated).

On the aforementioned topics and their developments, in the context of the dynamics of ‘democratic normalisation’ in Portugal and following the PREC [Processo Revolucionário em Curso] (remember, “Ongoing Revolutionary Period”), see A. Tavares & R. Albuquerque, “A influência do pacto MFA-Partidos na formação da eleição do Presidente da República” [The influence of the MFA-Parties pact on the formation of the election of the President of the Republic], European Public & Social Innovation Review, 10 (2025), https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-1878 (last accessed 12 June 2025). On the “MFA-Parties Pact”, see Maria do Céu Filipe, “Conselho da Revolução” (apresentação em PowerPoint), Torre do Tombo, Direção Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bibliotecas, available at: https://antt.dglab.gov.pt/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2022/01/13-Conselho-Revolucao.pdf  (last accessed 12 June 2025); J.M.M. Cardoso da Costa, “Da «Revolução» à «Constituição»: o caso da justiça constitucional portuguesa (uma sumária nota)”, SCIENTIA IVRIDICA, Tomo LXXIII, no. 366 (2024);  R. Leite Pinto, “O «Programa do Movimento das Forças Armadas»: o singular destino da Constituição Revolucionária do 25 de abril de 1974 em Portugal”, Revista de História Constitucional, no. 17 (2016), available at: https://www.historiaconstitucional.com/index.php/historiaconstitucional/article/view/430  (last accessed 12 June 2025).

[4] “Six years after the difficult birth that was the approval of the 1976 Constitution, the time had come to take it and the Portuguese political and governmental system in the direction of a westernised democracy, an essential condition for achieving the goal of joining the European Communities, which came to fruition in 1986.” A. Tavares & R. Albuquerque,“A influência do pacto MFA-Partidos na formação da eleição do Presidente da República”, 8. (Freely translated).

[5] On 25 April 1976, legislative elections were held for the first time, within a constitutional framework, which resulted in the First Constitutional Government. This was after the first elections had been held a year earlier (25 April 1975) after the “25^th of April” (with a turnout of around 91%) or elections for the formation of the Constituent Assembly (“constituent elections”). In fact, the Assembly resulting from this first free electoral act (after the “25^th April”) had the task of providing the country with a Constitution to replace the previous Constitution of 1933 (of the “Estado Novo”).

[6] Strictly speaking, it was in 1972 – and therefore outside the democratic framework resulting from the “25th of April” – that the first agreement (Association Agreement) was signed between Portugal and the EEC, with a view to the progressive creation of a free trade zone/area between the EEC and Portugal. This 1972 Association Agreement was also intended to promote the approximation of Portugal’s economic policies to those of the EEC (still during the “Estado Novo” and already during Marcelo Caetano’s time as Prime Minister). Intentionally or not, this first step, which took place even before the “25^th of April”, ended up anticipating, to some extent, the future negotiations with a view to Portugal’s accession – already assumed as a priority political objective after the “25^th of April.”

[7] These and other data can be found at:: https://www.pordata.pt/pt/estatisticas/populacao/esperanca-de-vida-e-obitos/taxa-de-mortalidade-infantil-0  (last accessed 12 June 2025).

[8] Judgment of the Court Rewe – Central AG (or “Cassis de Dijion”), 20 February 1979, case 120/78, ECLI:EU:C:1979:42, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:61978CJ0120.

[9] On May 1, 2004, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the island of Malta, Poland and the Czech Republic joined. Meanwhile, with Brexit, the United Kingdom left the European Union.

Picture credit: by Petrit Nikolli on pexels.com.