Suchergebnisse

AbstractIn this article, the main events of political life in Portugal are discussed. It includes a report on general elections in 2022, the formation of a new Socialist absolute majority government led by Prime Minister Antonio Costa, and major parliamentary decisions and debates. The year 2022 started with early general elections, strengthening the ruling Socialist Party, which won a majority of seats in the national Parliament. However, it took some time for the new government to learn to govern in the new context.

AbstractIn 2021, Portuguese politics was strongly affected by the Covid‐19 pandemic. In this constraining context, the Portuguese population went twice to the polls in presidential and local elections. Moreover, the Portuguese government was the holder of the presidency of the Council of the European Union. Throughout the year, the Portuguese government negotiated with the political parties to get the 2022 budget approved. However, most opposition parties rejected the budget for different reasons. Therefore, the President of the Republic dissolved Parliament and announced early elections for 30 January 2022. Although it was a difficult year, Portugal was able to implement an aggressive vaccination programme, which led to a high vaccination coverage of 80 per cent of the population.

Abstract
Following its EU presidency in 1992, Portugal served a second term in 2000. Originally designed as simply a transition to the more important French term in the second half of the year, it ended up producing the Lisbon strategy for the socio-economic development of the European Union. This article describes how seriously the Portuguese government took the presidency and how its ambition at the right moment helped to create the Lisbon strategy. The article also shows how the institutional structures of the presidency were upgraded and transformed in order to allow the presidency to run smoothly. The simplicity of the national EU coordination system was a further factor contributing to the smooth operation of the 2000 presidency. The article particularly emphasizes the institutionalization of the structures used to manage European Union affairs. The main argument of this article is that there is a learning process for countries that are in charge of the presidency. After the first presidency of 1992, Portugal learnt how to deal with the constraints but also opportunities that the rotating presidency offered and was able to be more ambitious by becoming the main architect of the Lisbon strategy and the attached open method of coordination (OMC). Both have become established innovations of the European integration process.