Portugal: Challenges of today and solutions for the future

Portugal has seen great changes in the last four decades. Those changes have been for the better, despite the many who did not believe the country could break with centuries of apathy and isolationism, “But if history has any lessons, events in Portugal in those early years of freedom demonstrate there is hope for the future, for the problems that the Portuguese faced in that period were ultimately resolved by the good sense of the people themselves.” (Morrison, 17)

The end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries in Portugal will be remembered by two major events: the 1974 Revolution and the integration in the European Union. These two events have not only changed the face of the country in the decade when they took place but they have changed the course of the country’s history.

“An eighteenth century that ran until the middle of the nineteeth, a twentiedth century that only now seemed on the brink of noticing that there weren’t another hundred years left of it...” (Saramago, Preface) Such was the country at the end of the twentieth century, as characterized by José Saramago, Portugal’s only recipient of a Nobel Prize for Literature. But in April 1974 the Portuguese bloodless and so-called Carnations Revolution (called like this because red carnations were stuck in the soldier’s riffle barrels) took place, it ended forty years of dictatorship. Marcelo Caetano was peacefully removed from power and a new provisory government was formed until elections could be held. This would be the birth of modern democractic Portugal. Without the Revolution, Portugal would continue the path of distancing itself from other European countries, an isolated, peripheral country loosing touch with the present. The Revolution made it possible for Portugal to integrate Europe, although it is sometimes considered that the country turned its back on its Atlantic and African vocation. In fact, not only was the Revolution crutial to Portugal, but it also changed the fortunes of the former Portuguese colonies that were given their independence shortly after the Revolution. For some of those countries, who had been fighting an independence war with continental Portugal, the Revolution also brought peace and the birth of new independent countries.

The other major event in the recent history of Portugal was European integration. “The Treaty of Accession of Portugal to the European Community was signed in 1985 and became effective on the 1 January 1986” (Silva Lopes, 1). The great majority of Portuguese agree that the European Union has been a positive factor for the development of the country, but there were losses as well as gains. Independently of advantages and possible constraints, European Union membership has transformed the country in every aspect of its everyday life:

“When the application for membership was presented in March 1977, it was expected that one of the main contributions of the integration into the Community would be the strengthening of the democratic regime, which at that time was still considered somewhat  fragile. It was also expected that the overall impact on the prospects for economic and social development would be favourable. The experience of the first six years of membership did not frustrate these expectations.” (Silva Lopes, 2).

Portugal is a presidential-parliamentary democracy. Its organs of sovereignty are the President of the Republic, the Assembly of the Republic, Government and the Courts.

The Portuguese Constitution, first adopted in April 1976, and amended several times till today, is at the basis of the Portuguese democracy. It now includes 299 articles, divided as follows: fundamental principles, fundamental rights and duties, economic organization, organization of political powers, guarantees and revision of the constitution and final and transitional provisions. Among other principles, the Constitutions details how the country is governed, how the government and the President are elected and how the country’s most important institutions work. (www.parlamento.pt).

The President of the Republic is considered one of the saveguards of the system, his most important role is to make sure that institutions work, a “safety net against occasional abuse of power by parliamentary majorities ir by the Government. (Oliveira Martins, 53). The President is elected by direct and universal suffrage. The Assembly of the Republic, the Portuguese Parliament, “is composed of a single chamber. Its members represent the whole country, not the constituencies for which they are elected.” (Oliveira Martins, 58) Their election is made by proportional representation, according to the Hondt highest average method. The Assembly’s role is mostly legislative and its mission is also one of supervision. The Government is the organ that holds executive power to run the country. The Government is chosen by the leader of the party who won the legislative elections, the party that has the more seats in the Assembly of the Republic, the Prime Minister is usually the leader of the winning party himself. The Government is composed of the Prime Minister and the Ministers responsible for the several areas of government. Finally, the courts administer the justice system of the country.

Portugal’s party system has had four major parties since the Revolution of 1974: The Communist Party (PCP) on the far left, the Socialist Party (PS), center left, the Social Democrats (PSD), center right and the Popular Party on the far right. Recently, the far left has seen the emergence of a new party, the Left Block, in consequence of the fall of communism and its change into alternative leftist ideologies. The two center parties are also the biggest ones and those who can become Government, either alone or in coalition.

The present Government is lead by José Sócrates, the Secretary General of the Socialist party. Sócrates’ government is in power supported by a socialist majority in the Assembly of the Republic. The socialist government is likely to stay in office for the next four years. The current President of the Republic is also a socialist, Jorge Sampaio, who is now serving the fifth and last year of presidency. The President remains in office for five years and can only be elected twice. Since Sampaio is already in his second term, a different candidate will take his seat in 2006. That candidate is expected to be Aníbal Cavaco Silva, a former social democrat Prime Minister. The balance of power between the two biggest parties is often achieved by having one party in the Government and the other in the Presidency. It seems that the future will not be different, this is probably how the Portuguese make sure, through their vote, of the balance of power.

The political system is not likely to change in the near future. The rotation between the two bigger parties in power is expected to continue. The challenge will be to make politicians more credible, since many Portuguese feel that the same people always ocupy the seats of power. The feeling of disappointment often follows great changes, such as the 1974 Revolution. The country will have to grow out of the Revolution’s expectations into new generations of responsible politicians.

Contemporary Portugal is very different from the country under Salazar as far as human rights are concerned. The difference, comparing the present situation and the country’s situation at the time of the First Republic in 1910 is radically different, showing much progress over just one century.

According to the 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (Country Studies; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html) issued by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the US Department of State, the status of human rights in Portugal is within the accepted standards. However, some problems persist in some areas.

Political human rights are guaranteed by the Portuguese Constitution: the right to a fair trial, the right to vote and the right to freedom of religion are universal in the country. These rights have not be put in question or in jeopardy since the 1974 Revolution, they have become acquired rights.

The Portuguese also enjoy from some economic rights, characteristic of the socialistic nature of their Constitution. These rights are prone to raise discussion in more conservative countries, but they have been maintained in Portugal, even through right wing governments. These economic rights include: social security (Article 63 of the constitution: “Everyone is entitled to social security”), retirement pension and unemployment pension ( Article 63: “The social security system provides protection for citizens in sickness or old age or when disabled, widowed, orphaned or unemployed”). (www.parlamento.pt)

Other so-called social rights are also granted by the Portuguese Constitution, such as the right to free health services (Article 64: “A national health service available to all and free of charge”), free education (Article 74: “compulsory and free basic education for all”). The latter two co-exist with private institutions, therefore allowing the Portuguese to choose between a private or public service in these two areas. (www.parlamento.pt)

However, the Report on Human Rights Practice pinpoints a few problems that remain in present-day Portugal. These problems can be summed up as follows: Police and prison guards beat and otherwise abused detainees. “Prison conditions remained poor. Lengthy pretrial and preventive detention remained a problem. Trafficking in foreign laborers and women also was a problem.” Practices (Country Studies; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html)  These areas will definitely have to be improved in the future: a wide reform is needed in the prisional system as well as in the judicial system, in particular as far as pretrials practices are concerned. Recently, the use of the electronic band in prisioners that allows for an early release from prison as well as alternative measures in the pretrial period has been extended to the entire country. Prisioners using the electronic band are not overwhelming the prisonal system and can be located at any time. It is a small measure that will relief the burden from overpopulated prisons but it will not be enough to tackle the problem.

International crime such as women trafficking, foreign laborers and also drugs have been a problem in Portugal since 1974, given the geographical location of the country that makes it a perfect gateway to Europe from both South America and Africa. This issue will also have to be addressed by future governments in cooperation with international organizations.

The Portuguese Constitution is a modern Constitution, keeping pace with the times. All the essential rights are there, none of those rights are dispensable, in my view. If anything, it is necessary that both government and the people abide more by the Constitution, letting go of the Portuguese expression“Laws are made not to be followed”.

Portugal is a secular country:  religion and state are separate although about ninety-seven per cent of the Portuguese are Catholic, the highest percentage in Europe. Despite the fact that only one third of the population attend churches regularly, the great majority is baptised and married by the Catholic church. Portugal can be considered Catholic in a social and cultural sense, more than in a strictly religious sense. (Country Studies; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html).

Under the Salazar dictatorship (1928-1968) , the church became more relevant to the general affairs of the nation.  “Salazar's state was established on the principles of traditional Roman Catholicism, with an emphasis on order, discipline, and authority.” Practices (Country Studies; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html). In 1940, Portugal and the Vatican signed a concordat, an agreement, by which the state was separate from the church but the church held a special position in state affairs:

“The Concordat of 1940 reversed many of the anticlerical policies undertaken during the republic, and the Roman Catholic Church was given exclusive control over religious instruction in the public schools. Only Catholic clergy could serve as chaplains in the armed forces. Divorce, which had been legalized by the republic, was again made illegal for those married in a church service. The church was given formal "juridical personality," enabling it to incorporate and hold property.” Practices (Country Studies: http://countrystudies.us/portugal/57.htm).

The relationship between state and church was a very close one until the Revolution. The Constitution of the Republic of 1976 separated church and state and many of the privileges enjoyed by the Catholic church were withdrawn. The Portuguese Constitution states in Article 41: “Freedom of conscience, religion and worship is inviolable” and also “Churches and religious communities shall be independent of the State and are free to determine their own organisation and to perform their own ceremonies and worship” (www.parlamento.pt).

Today, the Catholic church is still an important and influential institution, but it no longer influences the government of the country or its laws. Furthermore, the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first were a time of relative difficulties for the Portuguese Catholic church, having to deal with a shrinking number of people attending church and with the decreasing numbers of people wanting to be a part of the church. The term “vocation crisis” has been often used in this context. This tendency is expected to increase in the near future.

All the challenges facing Portugal in the beginning of the twenty-first century are a consequence of the Portuguese membership of the European Union. The main problem is the economic positioning of the country in a Union of 25 countries: Portugal’s lack of competiveness can drag the Portuguese economy to the lower end of the twenty five, if the almost stagnant economic growth trend continues. “It is essential that the Portuguese increase their ability to compete in international markets” (Morrison, 168). Portugal is considered an open economy, very dependent on the behaviour of external markets, yet another reason to improve the competitive and technological capabilities of Portuguese companies: Portugal is “the country with the largest level of dependence on the EC markets both as a supplier and a destination”(Sousa Lopes, 8).  A very recent example of failure to deal with this has happened in the textile sector that has seen dozens of textile companies closing for lack of capability to withstand the competition of Chinese manufacturers. This is not new, the fact that “Prices on raw materials, machinery and energy were beyon the control of the producers” (Sousa Ferreira, 47) has been known for a long time. The new global markets have just contributed to worsen Portugal’s vulnerability.

The second most important challenge the country has to face in the near future is the low educational standards and capabilities of the Portuguese. The poor rates of adult professional training, the high numbers of school drop-outs, the rates of insuccess in all levels of the Portuguese educational system together with poor, inadequate curricula, schools lacking the proper infrastructure and resources and the general low quality of the education provided by the public elementary and secondary schools are a great concern for the future in a world ever more educated and competitive. The difficulties related to education can even be considered more serious than the immediate economical challenges for a small country in a wide European Union because its effects will extend in time and will be felt for at least one or two generations after their origin.

A third challenge can also be regarded, although an easier one to face as it will be resolved by itself: the increasing numbers of immigrants in the country and the role they will play in the future Portugal. Fortunately, the Portuguese haven’t resisted to the recent wave of immigrants, neo-nazi parties and xenophobic groups ae almost non-existent. These immigrants will, over time, become integrated in the Portuguese social fabric and will enrich the country, its social and cultural heritage. The challenge here is to imagine what Portugal and the Portuguese will have in the future: a more open society or the same tradition of centuries of an isolated self-absorbed country.

Portugal has come a long way since the days of the First Republic. One of the first countries in Europe to embrace liberal ideas, it failed to live by them and a 40 year long dictatorship followed. The Revolution of 1974 and the integraton in the European project have given a new life and hope to a country that was lagging so far behind its European partners. The Portuguese only have to make their better future happen today.

 Works Cited

 Baiôa, Manuel, Fernandes, Paulo Jorge and Ribeiro de Meneses, Filipe. “The Political History of Twentieth-Century Portugal.”. E-Journal of Portuguese History. Summer 2004. http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Portuguese_Brazilian_Studies/ejph/html/issue2/pdf/baioa.pdf

 Silva Lopes, José da. (ed.) Portugal and EC Membership Evaluated. New York: St. Martins’s Press, 1994

 Morrison, Rodney J. Portugal: Revolutionary Change in an Open Economy. Boston: Auburn House Publishing Company, 1981

 Oliveira Martins, Guilherme. Portugal: Institutions and Facts. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional Casada Moeda, 1991.

Saramago, José, Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal’s History and Culture. New York: Harcourt Books, 2000.

Saraiva, José Hermano. Portugal: A Companion History. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1997.

Ferreira, Eduardo de Sousa (ed.), Conflitos e Mudanças em Portugal. Lisboa: Teorema, 1985

“Constitution of the Portuguese Republic”.  http://www.parlamento.pt/ingles/cons_leg/crp_ing/index.html (11 May 2005)

“Portugal”. Country Studies; October 1 2004. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html. (11 May 2005)