The end of Portugal?
"Four in 10 Portuguese would support the political union of their country with Spain, according to a new poll. The study, published yesterday by the Barometer of Spanish-Portuguese Opinion BOHL), found notably less support for an Iberian federation from Spanish respondents. Roughly 40 percent of the 363 individuals polled in Portugal by researchers from the University of Salamanca supported the union, while only 30 percent of the 513 participating Spaniards said they were partial to the idea".
Further digging discloses the full text of the research here (in Spanish), and a combination of bar Spanish, French, inspired guess work and so forth makes me pretty confident that I have these findings correct:
6.9% of Spaniards can name the Portuguese president, and 1.2% its current prime minister. ( I could...) 54.2% of Portuguese can name the Spanish PM. 10.2% of Spaniards and 11.3% of Portuguese correctly identified Philip II as the first king of a united Spain and Portugal. Elsewhere, 41.8% of Spaniards know the colours of the flag of Portugal and 55.4% of Portuguese know the colours of the Spanish flag. The best known Spaniards in Portugal are Julio Iglesias, King Juan Carlos and Princess Letizia. The reverse celebs are Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Saramago (?).
Given what goes on in Brussels, those 40% of Portuguese not especially bothered about the mother country might find that things will happen sooner than they think, albeit in another form.....
I just 'spoke' to a Portuguese friend, admittedly married to a Spaniard, and he was pretty relaxed about the idea. Quoth he: "we are the same people".
And just for fun, a noted Portuguese canned fish product:
Further digging discloses the full text of the research here (in Spanish), and a combination of bar Spanish, French, inspired guess work and so forth makes me pretty confident that I have these findings correct:
6.9% of Spaniards can name the Portuguese president, and 1.2% its current prime minister. ( I could...) 54.2% of Portuguese can name the Spanish PM. 10.2% of Spaniards and 11.3% of Portuguese correctly identified Philip II as the first king of a united Spain and Portugal. Elsewhere, 41.8% of Spaniards know the colours of the flag of Portugal and 55.4% of Portuguese know the colours of the Spanish flag. The best known Spaniards in Portugal are Julio Iglesias, King Juan Carlos and Princess Letizia. The reverse celebs are Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Saramago (?).
Given what goes on in Brussels, those 40% of Portuguese not especially bothered about the mother country might find that things will happen sooner than they think, albeit in another form.....
I just 'spoke' to a Portuguese friend, admittedly married to a Spaniard, and he was pretty relaxed about the idea. Quoth he: "we are the same people".
And just for fun, a noted Portuguese canned fish product:
Labels: Our oldest ally, Spain
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on Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 11:05 am.
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I have been to both places and I can exclusively reveal that they are quite different countries. I suspect this is a case of "ooh, aren't the Spaniards quite a bit richer and more developed than us". I love Spain but there is something quite nice about the laid-back nature of the Portuguese.
Yours truly hates to over-impose on your blog's hospitality (or to put it another way - always leave 'em wanting more) but Saramago is a novelist.
What would they do with the language problem then? Still, the Swiss have done it.
W-INF - I am now somewhat better informed, although I did a quick google meself.
James - Not beyond the wit of man to cook something up, I'm sure.
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