In this interview excerpt, Álvaro de Vasconcelos, co-founder and Director of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (IEEI) in Lisbon from 1981 to 2007 and Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) from 2007 to 2012, looks at the historical context and reasons that led to Portugal’s application for accession to Western European Union (WEU). The Protocol of Accession was signed in London on 14 November 1988 and came into force on 27 March 1990.

In this interview excerpt, Álvaro de Vasconcelos, co-founder and Director of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (IEEI) in Lisbon from 1981 to 2007 and Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) from 2007 to 2012, explains that Portugal’s accession to Western European Union (WEU) had a limited impact on the Portuguese army. But he emphasises the positive contribution of this accession in giving the Portuguese military more experience in European defence issues.