Disputes - international:
as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border,
Poland must implement the strict Schengen border rules to restrict
illegal immigration and trade along its eastern borders with Belarus
and Ukraine
Illicit drugs:
major illicit producer of synthetic drugs for the international
market; minor transshipment point for Asian and Latin American
illicit drugs to Western Europe
This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007
======================================================================
@Portugal
Introduction Portugal
Background:
Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th
centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the
destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the
Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil as a colony.
A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six
decades, repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a
left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The
following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African
colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC
(now the EU) in 1986.
Geography Portugal
Location:
Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of
Spain
Geographic coordinates:
39 30 N, 8 00 W