According to proexchangerates, the population’s displeasure with the austerity policy was shown again in the local elections at the end of September 2013, in which the governing parties suffered heavy losses. Nonetheless, on November 26, 2013, Parliament passed the 2014 budget, which provided for further savings measures amounting to € 3.9 billion. On May 17, 2014, Portugal officially left the euro rescue package. In the European elections on May 25, 2014, the opposition Partido Socialista emerged victorious with 31.4% of the vote. The governing coalition suffered a loss of votes. At the beginning of June 2014, the EU and IMF suspended the transfer of the last loan tranche of € 2.6 billion. The reason was a ruling by the Portuguese Constitutional Court, according to which several government austerity decisions, such as wage cuts in the civil service and pensions, as well as unemployment and sickness benefits, had been declared unconstitutional. The court ruling resulted in a funding gap of € 700 million for the 2014 state budget. The government confirmed on June 12, 2014 that it would not call up the last loan tranche. In the last few months she has been able to build up enough reserves to cover her financial needs. In August 2014, the Constitutional Court again dismissed some government austerity measures, including the taxation of pensions, as unconstitutional. As in previous years, thousands of people protested against the government’s austerity measures in 2014. In November 2014, the former prime minister became that she will not call the last loan tranche. In the last few months she has been able to build up enough reserves to cover her financial needs. In August 2014, the Constitutional Court again dismissed some government austerity measures, including the taxation of pensions, as unconstitutional. As in previous years, thousands of people protested against the government’s austerity measures in 2014. In November 2014, the former prime minister became that she will not call the last loan tranche. In the last few months she has been able to build up enough reserves to cover her financial needs. In August 2014, the Constitutional Court again dismissed some government austerity measures, including the taxation of pensions, as unconstitutional. As in previous years, thousands of people protested against the government’s austerity measures in 2014. In November 2014, the former prime minister became Sócratesremanded in custody on corruption charges. The PSD Interior Minister Miguel Macedo (* 1959) resigned in the same month because of a corruption affair in connection with the issuing of visas to wealthy non-EU foreigners.
The government’s austerity and reform policies, which went hand in hand with serious social upheavals, led to a hesitant economic recovery and a decline in unemployment, although the state debt burden remained high. Over 200,000 Portuguese had gone abroad to look for work since 2011. Against this background, parliamentary elections took place on October 4, 2015. The electoral alliance “Portugal à Frente” (German: Portugal in front) formed by the governing parties PSD and CDS-PP won only 38.6% of the votes and 107 of the 230 seats in parliament. The coalition had thus lost an absolute majority in the parliament. The PSD had 89 seats (2011: 108), the CDS-PP won 18 seats (2011: 24). The left opposition recorded gains. The PS received 32.3% of the votes and 86 seats (2011: 74). The Bloco de Esquerda, which moved into parliament with 18 members (2011: 8), made strong gains. The ecological-communist alliance CDU also gained slightly with 17 seats (2011: 16). Talks about the formation of a stable coalition of “Portugal à Frente” and the Partido Socialista were unsuccessful. President appointed on October 22, 2015 Cavaco Silva P. Passos Coelho again as Prime Minister. The minority cabinet made up of PSD and CDS-PP by him was sworn in on October 30, 2015. The left opposition rejected the government program on November 10, 2015 in parliament. 123 of 230 MPs voted against the bill, overthrowing the newly formed cabinet. President Cavaco Silva then commissioned A. Costa, the general secretary of the Partido Socialista, to form a government. Following tolerance agreements with the Left Bloc (BE) and the Greens (PEV), he formed a minority cabinet, which was sworn in on November 26, 2015.
In the presidential elections on January 24, 2016, the former PSD chairman M. Rebelo de Sousa, who was supported by the bourgeois opposition, won the first ballot with around 52% of the vote. The second-placed candidate, the independent left-wing politician and long-time rector of the University of Lisbon António Sampaio da Nóvoa (* 1954), received almost 23% of the vote. Incumbent Cavaco Silva was constitutionally unable to run for two terms.
In the parliamentary elections on October 6, 2019, the ruling PS of Prime Minister A.Costa gained 36.7% of the vote by 4.4% and thus received 106 of 230 parliamentary seats. The conservative PPD / PSD won 27.9% of the vote (77 seats). The right-wing conservative CDS-PP coalition party received 3 seats with 4.3% of the vote. The third strongest force was the left-wing populist Bloco de Esquerda, which lost a slight 9.7% and entered parliament with 19 seats.
Portugal strives for close economic, social and cultural cooperation with the other Portuguese-speaking countries (Angola, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Saõ Tomé and Príncipe): in 1996 the lusofone community Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portugesa was founded. The last territory of the Portuguese colonial empire, the overseas province of Macau, was returned to China in 1999. A NATO summit was held in Portugal in 2010. The country often participates in NATO and UN missions.
Heads of State in Portugal
| Portugal, heads of state | |
| Kings | |
| House of Burgundy | |
| Alfonso I, the Conqueror (King since 1139) | 1128-1185 |
| Sancho I. | 1185-1211 |
| Alfonso II | 1211-1223 |
| Sancho II. | 1223-1246 |
| Alfons III | 1246-1279 |
| Dinis (Dionysius) | 1279-1325 |
| Alfons IV | 1325-1357 |
| Peter I. | 1357-1367 |
| Ferdinand I, the handsome | 1367-1383 |
| House Avis | |
| Johann I. | 1385-1433 |
| Eduard (Duarte) | 1433-1438 |
| Alfons V, the African | 1438-1481 |
| Johann II. | 1481-1495 |
| Emanuel I (Manuel I) | 1495-1521 |
| Johann III. | 1521-1557 |
| Sebastian | 1557-1578 |
| Heinrich | 1578-1580 |
| Spanish kings (Habsburgs) | |
| Philip I (II.) | 1580-1598 |
| Philip II (III.) | 1598-1621 |
| Philip III (IV.) | 1621-1640 |
| House Bragança | |
| Johann IV. | 1640-1656 |
| Alfonso VI | 1656-1667 (1683) |
| Peter II (1667–1683 Prince Regent) | 1683-1706 |
| Johann V. | 1706-1750 |
| Joseph I. | 1750-1777 |
| Maria I. | 1777-1816 |
| Johann VI. (1792–1816 Prince Regent) | 1816-1826 |
| Peter IV | 1826-1828 |
| Michael I (Dom Miguel) | 1828-1834 |
| Maria II. Da Glória (from 1837 with Ferdinand II.) | 1826 / 34-1853 |
| Peter V. | 1853-1861 |
| Ludwig I. | 1861-1889 |
| Charles I. | 1889-1908 |
| Emanuel II (Manuel II) | 1908-1910 |
| President of the Republic | |
| 1st republic | |
| JT Fernandes Braga | 1910-1911 |
| M. de Arriaga | 1911-1915 |
| J. T. Fernandes Braga | 1915 |
| B. L. Machado Guimarães | 1915-1917 |
| S. B. Cardoso da Silva Pais | 1917-1918 |
| J. do Canto e Castro | 1918-1919 |
| A.J. de Almeida | 1919-1923 |
| M. Teixeira Gomes | 1923-1925 |
| B. L. Machado Guimarães | 1925-1926 |
| 2nd republic | |
| O. A. de Fragoso Carmona | 1928-1951 |
| F. H. Craveiro Lopes | 1951-1958 |
| A. D. Rodrigues Tomás | 1958-1974 |
| 3rd republic | |
| AS Ribeiro de Spínola | 1974 |
| F. da Costa Gomes | 1974-1976 |
| A. dos Santos Ramalho Eanes | 1976-1986 |
| M. Soares | 1986-1996 |
| J. Sampaio | 1996-2006 |
| A. Cavaco Silva | 2006-2016 |
| M. Rebelo de Sousa | since 2016 |
