Liberalism in Portugal

[1][2][3] Francisco Sá Carneiro became a member of the Portuguese National Assembly in 1969 under the Estado Novo dictatorial regime (1933-1974) and, in turn, one of the leaders of the "Liberal Wing" (Ala Liberal) of the National Assembly (the Portuguese legislature during the Estado Novo regime) which attempted to work for the gradual transformation of António de Oliveira Salazar's dictatorship into a Western European liberal democracy.

The Social Democratic Party was a full right member of the Liberal International, from 1985 until 1996.

The party leaned towards economic liberalism since Aníbal Cavaco Silva served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1985 to 1995 (a period marked by high economic growth in the country) and later as President of Portugal from 2006 to 2016.

From June 2011 to November 2015, after a IMF-European Union orchestrated bailout to the insolvent Portuguese Republic has been requested by the incumbent Prime Minister José Sócrates of the Socialist Party on 6 April 2011, Pedro Passos Coelho of the Social Democratic Party served as Prime Minister and his policies and proposals, in accordance with the recommendations made by the European troika to the Portuguese Republic, were regarded by the left as aligned with economic liberalism after decades of left-leaning, labor movement-inspired policies enacted by Portuguese socialist politicians and their political allies[4] before the ultimate signals of financial collapse of the Republic arose in 2010.

[5] However, many of Pedro Passos Coelho cabinet's proposals from 2011 to 2015 didn't pass due to the anti-liberal, labor movement-inspired Portuguese law.