In this interview, António Vitorino, Member of the European Commission with special responsibility for justice and home affairs from 1999 to 2004 and Special Adviser in 2007 to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, emphasises the success of the three Council Presidencies held by Portugal in 1992, 2000 and 2007.

In this interview, António Vitorino, Member of the European Commission with special responsibility for justice and home affairs from 1999 to 2004 and Special Adviser in 2007 to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, emphasises the importance of the opening up of Portugal to the outside world following the country’s accession to the European Communities in 1986.

In this interview, António Vitorino, Member of the European Commission with special responsibility for justice and home affairs from 1999 to 2004 and Special Adviser in 2007 to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, gives an extremely positive assessment of Portugal’s 20 years as a Member State of the European Communities.

In this interview, José Medeiros Ferreira, former Portuguese Foreign Minister, gives his personal views on the general development of Portugal since the country’s accession to the European Communities in 1986.

In this interview, José da Silva Lopes, former Minister for Finance and Foreign Trade, outlines the development of the economy and social policies in Portugal since the Carnation Revolution in 1974.

In this interview, José da Silva Lopes, former Minister for Finance and Foreign Trade, gives a largely positive assessment of Portugal’s membership of the European Communities.

On 27 March 1995, Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, Portuguese Prime Minister (left), and Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission (right), together officially open the Jacques Delors European Information Centre at the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon.

On 4 June 2002, in Lisbon, Jorge Sampaio, President of the Portuguese Republic, delivers the opening address at the Conference on ‘The future of Europe and enlargement. A political model for 21st-century Europe.'

On 21 March 2003, Jorge Sampaio, President of the Portuguese Republic, meets pupils from the Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho secondary school, which is holding an exhibition on ‘The Future of Europe’.

On 26 November 2004, in Berlin, at the presentation of a cultural conference entitled ‘Giving a soul to Europe’, José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, poses with the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, and the former German President, Richard von Weizsäcker, in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

On 24 November 1989, at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, Portuguese Prime Minister, delivers an address in which he places particular emphasis on Portugal's role in the development of a European identity.

On 19 October 1990, at the opening session of the conference on ‘Portugal in the European Community of the future’, held in Lisbon by the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, Mário Soares, Portuguese Prime Minister, delivers an address in which he considers the implications of the establishment of the internal market and of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the definition of the political and institutional dimension of the Community.

In June 1993, the Lisbon-based magazine Expansão publishes an article by Mário Soares, President of the Portuguese Republic, in which he gives an assessment of the economic and political situation eight years after Portugal's accession to the European Communities.

On 12 June 2005, at the ceremony held at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon to mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of Spain and Portugal's Treaties of Accession to the European Communities, Jorge Sampaio, President of the Portuguese Republic, delivers an address in which he emphasises the cultural significance of this accession for the Iberian Peninsula.

‘German Chancellor Schroeder is proposing to establish a European government. A European government?! And which ministry would be earmarked for Portugal? Given our austerity and technical prowess, the Finance Ministry, no doubt.' The Portuguese cartoonist Luís Alfonso takes an ironic look at Portugal's economic and financial situation.

Table showing the Portuguese members of the European Parliament since 1986.

Table showing the Portuguese Members of the European Commission since 1986.

Table showing the Portuguese members of the Court of Justice and of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities since 1986.

Table showing the Portuguese members of the European Court of Auditors since 1986.

The French President, François Mitterrand, presents a medal to Vítor Constâncio, who was in charge of Lisbon ‘94, European City of Culture.

José Luís Da Cruz Vilaça, President of the Court of First Instance from 1989 to 1995.

José Cutileiro, Secretary-General of Western European Union from 16 November 1994 to 23 November 1999.

On 24 January 2003, in the Moncloa Palace, Madrid, António Vitorino, Portuguese European Commissioner responsible for Justice and Home Affairs (left), is presented with the Grand Cross of St Raymond by the Spanish Prime Minister, José María Aznar.

In June 2004, José Manuel Durão Barroso, Portuguese Prime Minister, is appointed by the Twenty-Five to succeed Romano Prodi as President of the European Commission.