ABSTRACT
Portugal has long been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of economic and monetary union. Support for closer integration is based on the conviction that membership of a large economic and financial space, in which there is free movement for people, goods and capital, is the best chance to overcome relative backwardness. The benefits of a single currency (price stability, reduced business costs and expanded trade) are deemed to outweigh the costs (surrender of monetary policy as a weapon to be used by national authorities). From the Portuguese perspective, the political conno-tations behind the decision have particular resonance. It is important sym-bolically because for the first time the country is in the leading tier in the next significant development phase in the European project. Involvement in EMU is indeed a journey from the periphery, and not to have qualified would have signalled that Portugal remained an outsider, permanently excluded and condemned to remain marginal in political and economic terms.
