Portugal's Accession to the European Union

Abel Mateus

Portugal's accession to the European Union (EU) is certainly one of the most successful cases

of the last two decades. Having applied to join the EU in March 1977, Portugal entered the

European Community (EC) in January 1986, at the same time as Spain. This long gestation

period was largely due to the lack of macroeconomic equilibrium of the late 1970s and the early

1.980s,