2010-2019: 40 important dates in Portugal

February 22, 2020

A few weeks ago, we celebrated 2020. A new decade was born, while another came to an end. From 2010 to 2019, I’d like to take a look back at some important dates in Portugal. Dates that have, more or less, left their mark on Portugal over the last decade: joyous events, news items, serious events, lighter ones… (this list is of course non-exhaustive)

Year 2010

January 2010: Portugal’s parliament approves same-sex marriage.

January 2010: Pope Benedict XVI visits Portugal, visiting Lisbon, Fatima and Porto.

February 2010: A major depression hits the Portuguese island of Madeira. It causes flooding and landslides. The official death toll is 43.

June 2010: Portuguese politician and banker Vítor Manuel Ribeiro Constâncio becomes Vice-President of the ECB (European Central Bank). He will remain in this position until June 2018.

June 2010 : Death of renowned Portuguese writer and journalist José Saramego. His book ” L’aveuglement ” is on the list of the 100 best books of all time, a worldwide ranking! Makes you want to read it!

November 2010: Nuno Carvalho opens his first patisserie, ” A Padaria Portuguesa “. The first of many, there are now over sixty in and around central Lisbon. A real treat for gourmets!

Nuno Carvalho, founder of A padaria Portuguesa (photo credit: dinheirovivo.pt)

The year 2011

January 2011: Presidential election in Portugal. Incumbent president Anibal Cavaco Silva is re-elected in the first round with 52.95% of the vote and a very low turnout of 46.52%.

April 2011: It’s a time of crisis for Portugal, and the country decides to request financial aid from Europe. The Troika, comprising 3 institutions: the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), grants Portugal a loan of 78 billion euros.

November 2011:Garrett McNamara surfs a 23.77-meter wave at Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal. This wave is recognized by Guinness as “the biggest ever surfed”. Wahouuu … impressive!

Surfer Garrett McNamara taming this giant wave in Nazaré.

December 2011: Portugal has negative growth. The highest negative growth in the country since 1975. In 2011, annual GDP growth was -1.83%. This negative growth will continue in 2012 with -4.03% and in 2013 with -1.13%.

Year 2012

January 2012: José Avillez, now one of Portugal’s most renowned chefs, opens the Belcanto restaurant and receives a Michelin star. In 2014, Belcanto receives a second Michelin star. In 2015, the restaurant is recognized as one of the world’s best restaurants by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Today, José Avillez has numerous restaurants in Lisbon and Porto. The choice is yours!

Restaurant Belcanto and chef José Avillez (photo credit: dinheirovivo.pt)

October 2012: Portugal introduces the Golden Visa . It’s a scheme designed for foreign investors from non-EU countries. If they buy a residence in Portugal, they and their families can travel freely within the Schengen Area. Recently, changes have been made to the procedure for obtaining this golden visa. These will now only be issued for purchases made in Portugal’s inland municipalities, the Azores and Madeira.

Year 2013

April 2013: Unemployment was at an all-time high, reaching 17.8%. Since then, it has come down well, with an unemployment rate of 6.6% in 2019.

April 2013: Probably the most important event in Portugal this decade! Are you ready? This is the date I moved to Portugal, more precisely to Estoril, near Lisbon. I told you, a very, very important event in the last decade in Portugal 🙂

December 2013: Cristiano Ronaldo, the famous Portuguese soccer player receives his 2nd Golden Ball, an award given to the best soccer player of the year. He received his first Golden Ball in 2008. Today, the Portuguese player, who plays for Juventus, has won 5 in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Year 2014

January 2014: Death ofEusebio, Portuguese international footballer. Considered one of the best players in history. Eusebio spent most of his career with SL Benfica. With the Portuguese national team, he reached third place in the 1966 World Cup. He also won the prestigious Ballon d’Or in 1965.

Eusebio and his Golden Ball.

November 2014: José Socrates, former Prime Minister of Portugal, is arrested on suspicion of corruption, tax fraud and money laundering.

November 2014: The world’s best wine is Portuguese. In 2014, Wine Spectator Magazine chooses Dow’s Vintage Porto, vintage 2011, as the world’s best wine 2014. Two other Portuguese wines come in 3rd and 4th: Chryseia(2011) and Quinta do Vale Meão(2011). For those who want to see the full list of that year’s rankings, you can find it here.

Year 2015

July 2015: The Portuguese beach soccerteam became world champions, beating Tahiti 5-3. The final was held in Espinho , Portugal, the host country that year. The Portuguese team repeated this feat in Paraguay, with a second world championship title in 2019 (6-4 against Italy).

October 2015 : Netflix, the famous streaming platform, arrives in Portugal.

November 2015: António Costa becomes Prime Minister in 2015. In the past, he has also been elected to the European Parliament (2004), Minister of the Interior (2005) and Mayor of Lisbon from 2007 to 2015.

December 2015: The country passes the 10 million foreign visitors per year mark. With 10.2 million foreign visitors, tourist numbers in Portugal rose by 9.7% in 2015.

Year 2016

March 2016: Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa becomes President of the Republic. Marcelo De Sousa is a Portuguese lawyer, journalist and politician. He ran in the 2016 Portuguese presidential elections and was elected president of the republic in the first round, winning almost 52% of the vote. He began his presidential term in cohabitation with the government led by António Costa.

On the left, Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa, President of the Republic of Portugal, and on the right, António Costa, Prime Minister.

July 2016: The Portuguese soccer team is European champion. Portugal defeats France in the Euro 2016 final in extra time, with Eder scoring in the 109th minute. Portugal wins its first European championship and the whole country goes wild.

Marquês Pombal in Lisbon in a frenzy following Portugal’s victory at Euro 2016.

November 2016: Lisbon becomes the venue for the Web Summit, the unmissable “tech and internet” event that has been running since 2009. For the first five years, the event was held in Dublin, Ireland. From 2016, Lisbon, Portugal, was chosen to host the event. In October 2018, the Portuguese government announced a 10-year contract extension with Web Summit.

October 2016: MAAT, the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology opens in Lisbon. A museum located on the banks of the Tagus and easily recognizable with its futuristic building with white corrugated roof.

The MAAT museum in Lisbon.

Year 2017

January 2017: Portuguese Antonio Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal, takes office as Secretary-General of the United Nations.

February 2017: Introduction of the “coca-cola” tax on sugary drinks. The aim is to reduce sugar consumption by the Portuguese population. The revenue generated by this tax will be used for the national health service. Too bad we’ll be drinking “Vinho verde” instead 🙂

March 2017: The airport on the Portuguese island of Madeira was renamed ” Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo“, the player’s hometown. A bust of the player was also installed, but this caused controversy due to its “non-resemblance” to the player (judge for yourself, the photo is below). The bronze bust of Cristiano Ronaldo on display at Madeira airport was then replaced by another one from June 2017, which is nonetheless more lifelike!

On the right, the first statue of Cristiano Ronaldo. On the left, the one that replaced the first statue.

May 2017: Portugal commemorates 100 years since the Fatima apparitions. An event marked by the presence of Pope Francis at the shrine to canonize Francisco and Jacinta, two of the three shepherds to whom the Virgin is said to have appeared in 1917. This is the sixth time a pope has visited Fatima, Portugal.

May 2017: Portugal wins theEurovision Song Contest with the song ” Amar pelos dois ” sung by Salvador Sobral. Portugal has been taking part in the contest since 1964, and it’s only in 2017 that the country experiences its first victory.

June 2017: A huge fire breaks out in Pedrogão Grande, burning more than 530,000 hectares and killing 64 people. The biggest and deadliest forest fire in the country’s history. In October of the same year, huge forest fires broke out in central and northern Portugal. The fires were fanned by storm Ophelia, causing extensive material damage and 45 deaths.

November 2017: A new record. 24m38, the equivalent of an 8-storey building, is what Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa managed to surf on November 8, 2017. The wave was surfed at Nazaré, already the location of the record held by Garett McNamara in 2011. The location attracts surfers from all over the world for its gigantic waves.

November 2017: Portugal wins the title of World’s Best Destination at the World Travel Awards(the Oscars of tourism). Portugal will win the same title in 2018 and 2019.

The year 2018

March 2018: Portugal manages to produce more renewable energy than it consumes. The surplus is exported to Spain. Today, almost 60% of the electricity produced in Portugal is green energy: wind, hydroelectric, photovoltaic…

August 2018: Record temperatures in Portugal. Temperatures reach 46ºC in several regions. In Santarem, temperatures reach 47.4°C, beating the previous record in Portugal of 43 degrees in June 1981. This level of heat comes close to the European record of 48ºC set in Athens in 1977.

May 2018: Eurovision takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, following Portugal’s victory in 2017. Famous fadists Ana Moura and Mariza open the Eurovision final.

The beautiful and talented Ana Moura (left) and Mariza (right) open the Eurovision final.

December 2018: Exports account for 44.3% of GDP. 10 years earlier, in 2008, they represented just 28% of GDP. Three quarters of trade is with the EU. France remains Portugal’s 2nd largest customer and 3rd largest supplier.

Year 2019

April 2019: A tourist bus runs off the road in Caniço, Madeira, killing 29 German tourists.

June 2019: For the first edition of the League of Nations(soccer), Portugal wins against the Netherlands with a score of 1-0. Portugal becomes the first team to complete the European double: Euro (2016) and Nations League (2018).

November 2019: The famous singer Carlos do Carmo gives the last concert of his career at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon. The show was sold out and included the presence of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister Antonio Costa and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. For music lovers, here’s one of the songs .

Carlos do Carmo at his last concert at the Coliseu dos recreios.

December 2019: Greta Thunberg arrives in Lisbon by catamaran. After crossing the Atlantic the environmental activist arrived in Lisbon to travel to Madrid for the United Nations Climate Change Conference(COP 21).

December 2019: Storm Elsa swept across northern and southern Portugal, bringing high winds and heavy rain. The bad weather continued with storm Fabien, a storm of lower intensity. Both storms caused widespread flooding and damage in several towns.

In conclusion

As you’ve seen, there have been many important dates in Portugal over the last decade, and even so, this article only reflects a tiny fraction of everything that’s happened over the last 10 years. But what about you? What was the most significant event in Portugal during this period?

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