On 25 April 1974, during the ‘Carnation Revolution’, the Portuguese army is cheered by the crowds of people gathered in the streets of central Lisbon.

On 20 September 1976, the European Economic Community and the Portuguese Republic conclude an Interim Agreement designed to bring into force some of the provisions of the Additional Protocol, which they sign the same day, pending its entry into force.

On 7–8 March 1977, Emanuele Gazzo, Editor-in-Chief of Agence Europe, emphasises the need for the Nine to give a clear and rapid political response to Portugal’s forthcoming application for accession to the European Communities.

On 11 June 1976, the Portuguese and European Commission Delegations issue a joint press release in which they set out the scope of the Additional Protocol to the 1972 Free Trade Agreement and of the Financial Protocol, concluded two days earlier in Brussels.

On 25 April 1975, General Francisco da Costa Gomes (right), President of the Portuguese Republic, casts his vote in the elections held in Lisbon for the National Constituent Assembly.

On 3 August 1976, the first Portuguese Constitutional Government, led by the Socialist Prime Minister, Mário Soares, publishes its decisions concerning Portugal’s foreign policy.

On 19 November 1974, Roger Hastert, Luxembourg Ambassador to the Netherlands, forwards to Gaston Thorn, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, a letter in which he gives an account of his meeting with Mr G. Meijer, Special Adviser to Max van der Stoel, Netherlands Foreign Minister, on the process of political democratisation in Portugal.

In April 1976, the German cartoonist Horst Haitzinger takes an ironic look at the outcome of the legislative elections held in Portugal on 25 April 1976 — the date of entry into force of the new Portuguese Constitution — which result in the rise of the Socialist Party and the decline of the Communist Party.

On 1 May 1974, crowds of people throng the streets and squares of Lisbon to celebrate the overthrow, one week previously, of the Salazar dictatorship.

In 1974, General António de Spínola, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Armed Forces in Africa, is dismissed for having published his book entitled Portugal e o Futuro. Análise da conjuntura nacional [‘Portugal and the Future'] in which he advocates an end to the colonial wars. His dismissal incites military insurgents to take part in the coup d'état of 25 April 1974 and what becomes known as the ‘Carnation Revolution'.