Portugal assesses benefits of EEC membership after 40 years

Forty years after joining the European Economic Community (EEC), a study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation indicates that 76% of Portuguese citizens view the decision as beneficial.

However, the long-term impact on the country's agricultural sector remains a point of contention. While the EEC promised modernization and prosperity, critics point to the decline of rural areas, characterized by abandoned orchards and an aging farming population. Concerns are rising regarding the EU-Mercosul agreement, which threatens to increase competition for Portuguese producers by opening markets to large-scale South American exports of beef, poultry, and sugar produced at significantly lower costs.