Posted on 25 May 2015
“Portugal and European democracy”. That is the subject that has brought the new Sørensen researcher, Filippo Frangioni, to the Historical Archives of the European Union. The post-doctoral project for which Dr. Frangioni has been awarded a Sørensen Grant deals with the Portuguese democratic transition established after Salazar’s Estado Novo authoritarian regime and the influence of the European integration process which was starting to take a lead in Europe’s international political scheme at that time.
This is not the first time Filippo Frangioni, graduated in Contemporary European History at the Università degli Studi di Firenze, researches on the topic. His Doctoral thesis, “The Carnation Revolution and the Italian Left (1974-1976)” (La Rivoluzione dei garofani e la sinistra italiana), done at the Università degli studi di Roma Tor Vergata, already addressed the political process that resulted in the affirmation of Portuguese democracy from the perspective of Italian politics. However, this new project engages in the historical event from a wider and more complex perspective which regards the arising debate inside the European Commission at that moment. “As early as 1973 a joint study group – in which Portugal was included – was created within the European Commission in order to develop an economic stability agreement. Even if only from a commercial point of view, that discussion can definitely be considered as a way of introducing a conversation of a more political nature”, Dr. Frangioni states.
The research project carried out by Dr. Frangioni takes part of an ongoing investigative interest on this issue which has been reflected in his previous paper “Between Europeanism and Third-Worldism: Portugal and the Carnation Revolution in Italian Left” (Fra europeismo e terzomondismo: Il Portogallo e la rivoluzione dei garofani nella sinistra italiana). These recent research projects included also the consultation of the deposits regarding Portuguese transition held in the American National Archives in Washington. When asked about the predominant position of historical interpretations that frequently link this process mainly to the US foreign policy and Cold War, Frangioni notes that several points must be taken into account. “Probably a main reason for this lies in the always predominant role of the United States in international politics. We can also affirm their political profile concerning these issues in better defined and more understandable as a whole than that of a quite more heterogeneous Europe”. Dr. Frangioni points out other key elements to be acknowledged, like the historiographical trends set in the 90’s that, boosted by the new possibility of consulting the US government documents from the seventies, encouraged Cold War Studies in conjunction with the collapse of the Soviet Union to the detriment of the European integration history.
However, although less studied than the position of the United States, the role undertaken by Europe during the negotiations that took place over those years has been outstanding and widely recognized by both historians and political analysts on many occasions. “As a matter of fact, the model of democracy offered by Europe, autonomous and considerably different from the one offered by Washington, is recalled, along with the Spanish case, as one of the first successful instances performed in European common foreign policy. Despite all these observations, though, a research on the European official documents still needed to be carried out. And that's why I decided to apply for a Sørensen Grant”, affirms the Italian researcher.
Dr. Frangioni’s research study during the month of March at the Archives’ premises in Villa Salviati was framed within the context of the Conference on security and cooperation in Europe, held in Helsinki in 1975, and the report presented to the European Council on December 29th 1975 by the Belgian Prime Minister Leo Tindemans. The consultation of documents from the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliamentary Assembly and, specially, the ones concerning the study group "Portugal", established by the European Economic and Social Committee in 1976, provided Frangioni with a deeper understanding of the country's political and economic uncertainties, its position in the 1970’s international sphere, the army uprising attempts and the negotiations for independence within the former African colonies. Ultimately, Dr. Frangioni’s aim would be to bring into comparison the information from the European institutions with those obtained from the American and Portuguese sources on the same context and, thus, produce a paper which would thoroughly discuss Portugal’s transition to democracy in a more comprehensive and interconnected basis. Something for which he claims to have already more than enough material to work with thanks to the HAEU’s fonds.
Finally, questioned on his perception on the political processes undertaken in Europe in the 70's in relation to a current state of European affairs characterized by the constantly changing alliances, roles and relationships between countries, Frangioni stresses that the problem may lie "more in the representation of political ideologies rather than the results achieved by the institutions”. The Italian researcher further highlights that “Europe is now the symbol of austerity, coming from a situation in which the link between European integration, affirmation of democracy and the active promotion of economic development that worked in the 70s and 80s has been reversed, especially in the eyes of public opinion”. Yet, Dr. Frangioni emphasizes the undeniable contribution from European institutions for the countries that, coming from a phase of authoritarianism and dictatorship, entered the European integration process in the 1970’s. “Even if some gaps still need to be closed, Portugal as a first example, but also Spain and Greece later on, tremendously benefited from this process in a social, political and economic perspective”.
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