an imperial hangover

"In this old and nostalgic capital, filled with grand monuments to the navigators who helped create Europe´s first overseas empire in the 15th century, one begins to understand why the Portuguese have never completely learned to love the latter-day empire of sorts known as the European Union.

On the surface, it would seem natural that Portugal, a small country of 10 million people that shed an authoritarian regime, would have an instinctive affinity for the EU. The Union has been an anchor of democracy since the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship here in 1974. It has pumped nearly 50 billion euros into Portugal´s economy since the country joined the EU in 1986 and helps it to have influence beyond its size on the world stage.

Yet Portugal has an ambivalent relationship with the bloc of 480 million people it will now lead as EU president for the next six months. It is sometimes said here that Europe was the last continent to be discovered by the Portuguese (...).

Since the transition to democracy, successive governments have harnessed the country´s future to the EU. But its colonial past still exerts a strong hold on the national psyche and Lisbon still maintains close ties with Portugal´s five former African colonies and Brazil. It is no coincidence that Portugal will use its EU presidency to hold the first EU-Africa summit in several years, as well as a high-profile summit with Brasil.

However potent its imperial hangover, the greatest factor weighing on Portugal´s mixed attitude toward the EU is its economy, which is severely underperforming other neighboring EU countries like Spain. (...)"

(extracto do artigo "In Portugal, an imperial hangover that lingers", publicado no International Herald Tribune do último fim-de-semana)