Portugal is not the subject of particular threats to national security and is not the primary target of international terrorism. On the military level, he is engaged in the resolution of international crises, especially in the former colonies. Portugal actively participates in NATO and international missions and in particular promotes its interests in the Mediterranean and the South Atlantic. Lisbon hosted the Atlantic Alliance summit in November 2010, during which members adopted the new ‘strategic concept’. Furthermore, a cooperation and defense agreement with the United States has been in force since 1995, present since the Second World War in the military base of Lajes in the Azores. At the same time, Portugal is among the promoters of the development of the ‘Common Security and Defense Policy E u’ and actively contributes to its missions. Lisbon has also launched some forms of intra-European cooperation: together with Spain, France and Italy, in 1995 it created the European maritime force (Euromarfor), used in humanitarian operations and peacekeeping missions independently or under the aegis of the EU, NATO, OSCE. It also contributed to the creation of the European Rapid Reaction Force (Eurofor) and is part of the European Gendarmerie Force. For Portugal defense and foreign policy, please check relationshipsplus.com.
He participated in the First Gulf War in 1991, in the missions in Kosovo in 1999, in Afghanistan in 2001, in Iraq with the NATO Training Mission in 2004, in Darfur in 2005 and in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia since 2009. Within the EU moreover, he has participated in numerous missions, including the anti-piracy operation in Somalia (the Atalanta mission of the EU Navfor) since 2008, the Althea mission of the EUFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina since 2004 and, between 2008 and 2010, the Security Reform Support Mission in Guinea Bissau. The country also has a contingent engaged in the N ato Kfor missionin Kosovo and had a high number of troops deployed in Afghanistan, reduced to 10 in 2015.
Lisbon out of the troika rescue plan
The government led by Pedro Passos Coelho announced on 17 May 2014 Portugal’s official exit from the rescue program of the troika (Eu, Imf and Ecb), thanks to which in 2011 it obtained a loan of 78 billion on condition to implement a series of measures that would allow the reduction of expenditure. After the approval of some fiscal austerity measures and the exit from the international aid plan, Portugal is going through a stable phase of economic recovery, as also confirmed by the expansion of the GDP for five consecutive three-month periods. Although some structural problems persist – unemployment and high public deficit -, the Portuguese political and economic system can be defined as stable and tendentially immune to possible negative external impacts (see the ‘Grexit’ hypothesis). If the trend were to continue in the coming months, it is conceivable that Portugal will be the second country after Ireland to be able to consider itself effectively out of the economic and financial crisis. A situation that could also allow him to repay the old patently the installments of the debt contracted with international financial institutions.
The ‘new’ abortion law
After years of discussions and deep tensions between different parties, social movements and popular sensibilities, on 22 July 2015 the Parliament of Lisbon voted to revise the law on abortion, which became legal in the country through a referendum in 2007. The new device, voted by the conservative government majority, it envisaged the insertion of 4 new rules on the voluntary termination of pregnancy. The law has been heavily criticized by the socialist and communist oppositions for the very restrictive cases in which abortion can be practiced and because this regulatory system is considered highly harmful to the dignity of women. In its key steps, the new law provides for the payment of a ‘user fee’ – defined as’ taxas moderadoras ‘- for the voluntary termination of pregnancy (previously this operation was performed free of charge) and the obligation on the part of the woman to consult psychologists and social workers before deciding when to abort, within a maximum limit of ten weeks. The device makes the cases in which to assert the right to abortion even more stringent: according to the law of 2007, one of the most restrictive in Europe, abortion was only allowed in cases of pregnancies that occurred after rape or for reasons health of the patient or fetus. The voluntary termination of pregnancy that occurred outside of these cases was punished with a maximum of three years in prison.
