ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the developments toward and after membership, before discussing more thoroughly how the different institutions were recreated shortly before and after European Union (EU) membership. In sum, Europeanization is asymmetrical and affects different institutions of the core political system at different times and in different ways. The presidency of the Council of the EU can be regarded as the decisive point of maturation of the Portuguese position. One can divide the period into two main phases: The Learning Phase and The Assertive Phase. One of the pre-conditions for membership in the European Community was to strengthen the liberal constitutional elements and discard the socialist aspects. The retreat of General Eanes from the presidency allowed for a complete civilianization of the political system. One can speak therefore of a limited bottom-up Europeanization which is highly flexible and open for negotiations.
