Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between Portugal and Spain enters into force today

The Portuguese and Spanish Governments are pleased with the fact that the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation, signed at the 32nd Luso-Spanish Summit held in Trujillo in October 2021 enters into force today, 11 May 2023. This followed on from the commitment undertaken at the Guarda Summit in October 2020.

The previous Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation, signed in 1977, played a crucial role in Portugal and Spain’s parallel development as democracies. At a fundamental time for both countries’ democratic transition, signing the Treaty brought both peoples’ together and contributed to the relations between Portugal and Spain in terms of politics and trade, as well as culture, science, technology, and many other fields. It also formally set up the Council for Luso-Spanish Cooperation, at the origin of the what would become the Luso-Spanish Summits.

Over these more than forty years, both countries and their societies witnessed many changes – today, Portugal and Spain are consolidated democracies, EU Member States, NATO allies and partners in the Ibero-American Conference. The ties between both countries are today strong and mature, fully consolidated, which thereby led to the need to develop a new framework that is in line with the evolution of this relationship, its growing density and strategic and multidimensional nature.

In this context, the new Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation states the shared values and updates the cooperation mechanisms in their various fields, whether bilateral, which includes cross-border relations, or on a European and international level. The entering into force of this Treaty represents renewing and boosting these relations, adapting them to the circumstances of current times with eyes cast in the future.

The Treaty text is available here.