Last updated in March 2010
Political relations
Political relations between Germany and Portugal are excellent. Cooperation between the German government and that of Prime Minister Sócrates is close and constructive. There are good parliamentary contacts between the German Bundestag and the Portuguese Assembleia da República.
Portugal has consistently proved to be a good European partner. It cooperates in all important domains in the spirit of European integration. Thanks to close coordination prior to and during the two countries’ successive EU presidencies in 2007, political relations between Germany and Portugal have gained in intensity. The Treaty of Lisbon, prepared under the German EU Presidency, was signed after the baton was passed to Portugal.
In March 2009, the Portuguese President Cavaco Silva paid an official visit to Germany.
Economic relations
In the past, German-Portuguese economic relations have benefited substantially from the relocation of labour-intensive industries from Germany to Portugal. German companies have had their own production facilities in Portugal since the beginning of the 20th century and, until the beginning of the current financial and economic crisis, headed the annual ranking lists for gross investment (inflows). As a result of the crisis, however, the chip manufacturer Qimonda (with a factory in Portugal) and the Portuguese factory of footwear manufacturer Rohde were forced to apply for bankruptcy. A number of German companies (textiles, footwear, car parts suppliers) had previously moved production to lower-wage locations. New areas of cooperation have been established in the medical technology and renewable energy sectors. Germany remains Portugal’s second most important trading partner, after Spain, accounting for approximately 13 per cent of Portuguese exports and imports).
Cultural relations
There has traditionally been a lively cultural exchange between Portugal and Germany. This is evidenced by the two renowned binational German Schools in Lisbon and Porto, which are attended by a total of approximately 1,700 mainly Portuguese pupils, the two Goethe Institutes offering programmes tailored to the needs of young people in Portugal and some 350 university cooperation arrangements. Growing German interest in Portugal as a place for doing research is reflected in the Fraunhofer Society’s establishment of a subsidiary conducting research in key technologies in Porto in 2009. A remaining challenge is halting the downturn in the number of pupils learning German (less than 6,000 in 2006). By contrast, there has been a slight increase in the demand for German instruction at Portuguese universities.
