Table showing the composition of Portugal’s six Provisional Governments following the Carnation Revolution which took place in 1974.

On 22 October 1974, a few months after the Carnation Revolution, the Portuguese Minister for the Economy, Emílio Rui da Veiga Peixoto Vilar (right), receives Edmund P. Wellenstein (centre), Director-General of External Relations of the EEC, in Lisbon.

On 19 November 1974, Roger Hastert, Luxembourg Ambassador to the Netherlands, forwards to Gaston Thorn, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, a letter in which he gives an account of his meeting with Mr G. Meijer, Special Adviser to Max van der Stoel, Netherlands Foreign Minister, on the process of political democratisation in Portugal.

In this interview, José Medeiros Ferreira, former Portuguese Foreign Minister, describes the establishment of the Socialist Party of Portugal in 1973 and the reaction of the other European Socialist parties.

In an airmail letter forwarded on 9 December 1974 to the Portuguese Interministerial Committee for External Economic Cooperation, the Portuguese Ambassador, António de Siqueira Freire, gives an account of his visit to the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg in order to explore the possibilities of EIB participation in the financing of the projects adopted for industrial cooperation between Portugal and the European Communities.

On 16 January 1975, in a sports hall in Lisbon, supporters of the Portuguese Socialist Party attend a major demonstration against the single trade union system, which is promoted by the government with the support of the Communist Party. The photo shows Mário Soares, Secretary-General of the Socialist Party and Portuguese Foreign Minister, among the demonstrators.

On 12 February 1975, the Portuguese Minister for Finance, José da Silva Lopes (left), and the Minister for the Economy, Rui Vilar (right), welcome Sir Christopher Soames, Vice-President of the Commission of the European Communities, to Lisbon.

On 20 February 1975, in Lisbon, the Portuguese Minister for the Economy, Rui Vilar (left), delivers an address as the working party responsible for the negotiations between Portugal and the European Communities, chaired by Ambassador António Siqueira Freire, Permanent Representative of Portugal to the EEC, begins its work.

On 23 April 1975, in Lisbon, two days before the elections to the Constituent Assembly which are due to be held on 25 April, the first anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, over 100 000 people attend a Unity Rally organised by the Portuguese Socialist Party. The photo shows Mário Soares, Secretary-General of the Socialist Party, sitting on the platform erected in the middle of the stadium where the meeting is being held.

On 25 April 1975, General Francisco da Costa Gomes (right), President of the Portuguese Republic, casts his vote in the elections held in Lisbon for the National Constituent Assembly.

In April 1975, the French cartoonist, Plantu, takes an ironic look at the election of the National Constituent Assembly in Portugal.

In April 1975, the French cartoonist, Plantu, takes an ironic look at the victory of Mário Soares’ Portuguese Socialist Party.

Following the ‘Carnation Revolution' of spring 1974, all monuments erected to the glory of the Salazar regime are destroyed. In the village of Santa Comba Dão, birthplace of António de Oliveira Salazar, a statue of the former Head of State is decapitated.

In April 1975, a soldier symbolically places a carnation and a rose in his rifle, as Portugal prepares to celebrate 1 May as a recently liberated nation.

In April 1975, Portugal prepares to celebrate 1 May in freedom. The photo shows a demonstrator evoking the Carnation Revolution and portraying the image of the people casting off their chains.

On 3 June 1975, Portugal's National Constituent Assembly holds its first session following the elections of 25 April, won by the Socialists under the leadership of Mário Soares.

Summary record of the meeting held on 9 June 1975 with the aim of defining and coordinating the action of Portuguese diplomats with regard to the initiatives to be taken with a view to the opening of the negotiations for the signing of the extended cooperation agreement between Portugal and the Common Market.

On 6 March 1976, the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Trade, Jorge Campinos (right), welcomes François-Xavier Ortoli (left), President of the Commission of the European Communities, to Lisbon, with a view to negotiating Portugal’s future accession to the Communities.

In April 1976, the German cartoonist Horst Haitzinger takes an ironic look at the outcome of the legislative elections held in Portugal on 25 April 1976 — the date of entry into force of the new Portuguese Constitution — which result in the rise of the Socialist Party and the decline of the Communist Party.

On 16 July 1976, Mário Soares, Socialist Prime Minister of Portugal, convenes his first constitutional government.

On 23 July 1976, in Lisbon, the President of the Portuguese Republic, António Ramalho Eanes (centre), delivers an address at the ceremony held as the first Constitutional Government, led by Mário Soares, takes office.

On 3 August 1976, the first Portuguese Constitutional Government, led by the Socialist Prime Minister, Mário Soares, publishes its decisions concerning Portugal’s foreign policy.

In this interview, José Medeiros Ferreira, former Portuguese Foreign Minister, explains the importance of the first constitutional Government in the definition of Portugal's foreign policy after the Carnation Revolution.

The French cartoonist, Plantu, illustrates the new democracies of Greece, Portugal and Spain who have freed themselves from the chains of the past and are delighted at being able to join the European Communities.

In this interview, José da Silva Lopes, former Minister for Finance and Foreign Trade, explains how, after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the new democratic situation in Portugal influenced the application for accession to the European Communities.

In this interview, António Vitorino, Member of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004, refers to the hope for democratic stability and economic development that Portugal’s accession to the European Communities engendered in the Portuguese people after the Carnation Revolution.

On 11 June 1976, the Portuguese and European Commission Delegations issue a joint press release in which they set out the scope of the Additional Protocol to the 1972 Free Trade Agreement and of the Financial Protocol, concluded two days earlier in Brussels.

Financial Protocol between the European Economic Community (EEC) and the Portuguese Republic which was signed on 20 September 1976 and entered into force on 1 November 1978. This Protocol, which aimed to make emergency aid available to Portugal with a view to promoting the accelerated development of its economy, is an integral part of the Agreement of 22 July 1972 between the EEC and the Portuguese Republic.

Additional Protocol to the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Portuguese Republic dated 22 July 1972. This Protocol, which was signed on 20 September 1976 and which entered into force on 1 November 1978, includes provisions concerning trade measures and cooperation in the area of social policy as well as industrial, technological and financial cooperation.

On 20 September 1976, the European Economic Community and the Portuguese Republic conclude an Interim Agreement designed to bring into force some of the provisions of the Additional Protocol, which they sign the same day, pending its entry into force.

On 20 September 1976, in Brussels, at the signing of the Additional Protocol to the 1972 Agreement, the Financial Protocol and the Interim Agreement between Portugal and the European Economic Community (EEC), José Manuel Medeiros Ferreira, Portuguese Foreign Minister, delivers an address in which he declares, for the first time, Portugal's intention to submit an application for accession to the European Communities.

On 20 September 1976, in Brussels, José Manuel de Medeiros Ferreira (left), Portuguese Foreign Minister, Max van der Stoel (centre), Netherlands Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities, and François-Xavier Ortoli (right), President of the European Commission, sign two protocols and an interim trade agreement aimed at extending the Free Trade Agreement of 22 July 1972 in view of Portugal's application for accession to the European Communities.