Portugal’s assumption of the European Union Presidency prompts The International Herald Tribune to write about the country’s relationship with Europe.

Although I’ve only been here a short while, and I’ve just seen most of the tourist attractions and historical sights in Lisbon and Porto, one of the observations I’ve made about the country is that it seems much more comfortable with its history of exploration and overseas empire than other European nations. The article explains some of the reasons why this could be the case, as well as why Portugal in some ways is more attached to its former colonies than it is to the EU.

In this old and nostalgic capital, filled with grand monuments to the navigators who helped create Europe’s first overseas empire in the 15th century, one begins to understand why the Portuguese have never completely learned to love the latter-day empire of sorts known as the European Union.

On the surface, it would seem natural that Portugal, a small country of 10.6 million people that shed an authoritarian regime, would have an instinctive affinity for the EU. The Union has been an anchor of democracy since the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship here in 1974. It has pumped nearly 50 billion euros into Portugal’s economy since the country joined the EU in 1986 and helps it to have influence beyond its size on the world stage.

Yet Portugal has an ambivalent relationship with the bloc of 480 million people it will now lead as EU president for the next six months. It is sometimes said here that Europe was the last continent to be discovered by the Portuguese.

‘We were the first European country to have an empire and the last one to give it up,’ said Jaime Nogueira Pinto, a biographer of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, the dictator who ruled Portugal for nearly 50 years. ‘So the Portuguese, more than most, are sensitive about losing our national identity.’

The complete article from The International Herald Tribune: “Portuguese resent EU as they take its helm”