Portugal - Foreign policy



Portugal continued to express interest in fostering closer ties to its former colonies, especially those who can contribute to the country's trade, notably Brazil. In May 2002, shortly after becoming prime minister, Durão Barroso traveled to East Timor to celebrate that country's independence on 20 May 2002. When Indonesia granted authority for administration of East Timor to the United Nations, the Portuguese government reestablished diplomatic ties with Indonesia; the two countries had not had official diplomatic relations for decades, after Indonesia had annexed East Timor in the mid-1970s. East Timor designated Portuguese as its official language, to symbolically sever ties with Indonesia and revert to its former status. Until the mid-1970s, East Timor was more closely aligned with Portugal than with Indonesia, the country from which it won its independence. The plight of East Timor held special interest for Durão Barroso. While Durão Barroso was foreign minister, he had met with Nobel Peace Prize winner from East Timor, Dr. Ramos-Horta, when he visited Lisbon. Durão Barroso had also traveled to East Timor in August 2001, when he was leader of the opposition PSD.

Over the years, Portugal has been a major recipient of EU regional aid. This flow of money will most likely diminish with the proposed enlargement of the EU to eastern Europe. During the five-year EU budget negotiations in March 1999, the Portuguese delegation fought to ensure that the EU would not cut off the flow of structural funds to Lisbon. Portugal succeeded in retaining the same proportion of funds from the previous package and secured a 10.4% share of the structural aid funds over the 2000–06 period, the equivalent of $27.18 billion. Portugal also extracted the compromise of another €$18 billion in cohesion funds set aside for countries with a GDP below 90% of the EU average. Nevertheless, once the applicant countries join, transfers from the EU will diminish.

Durão Barroso supported the U.S. position on the forcible disarmament of Iraq during the 2002–03 political crisis regarding that country. At a summit held in Portugal's Azores on 16 March 2003, Durão Barroso hosted U.S. president George W. Bush, British prime minister Tony Blair, and Spanish prime minister José María Aznar, and stood with them in issuing a 24-hour ultimatum to the UN to authorize the use of force in disarming Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's regime. After the United States gave up on a diplomatic resolution to the crisis the next day, war began on 19 March 2003. Although the government supported the war, Portugal was also the site of large anti-war demonstrations, joining those that took place across other European countries.

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