Portugal and Spain (finally) to merge?

This is one of the principal conclusions of the «Barómetro de Opinião Hispano-Luso, 2010» - a public opinion study made in Portugal and Spain on problems and issues that affect both countries.

The study was undertaken by the University of Salamanca (CASUS), with support from Lisbon’s Instituto Universitário (ISCTE-IUL).

It involved 1.946 people over the age of 16 – all of them polled over the telephone in both countries between April and May of 2010.

In 2009, when questioned whether Spain and Portugal should unite to form an Iberian Federation, 30.3 per cent of Spaniards and 39.9 per cent of Portuguese interviewed supported the idea.

One year later, 31 per cent of Spaniards are in complete agreement with the idea – while the number of Portuguese in favour has risen to 45.6 per cent.

It’s also intriguing to hear people’s perceptions on national characteristics. The Spaniards refer particularly to the national pride of the Portuguese, their friendliness and dedication to work, as well as their individual responsibility.

The Portuguese, meantime, also consider the Spanish to have a high-level of national pride and to be friendly, but they stress their level of culture and open-mindedness.

Germany is the country that the Spanish most respect, followed by France. Portugal comes in in third place: 7.2 per cent of Spaniards have a “very good opinion” of Portugal, while 57.7 per cent say they have a “good opinion”.

Curiously though, the country most respected by Portuguese is Spain: 18.6 per cent have a “very good opinion” of the country, and 60.9 per cent have a “good opinion”. Again, France comes in in second place, with Germany lagging quite a distance behind in third place.

But the Spanish show less interest in issues relating to Portugal than vice-versa. Against 19.9 per cent of Portuguese who say they are “very interested” in issues relating to Spain, we find only 9.1 per cent of Spanish share these sentiments.

Indeed in Spain, of the 54.3 per cent of people who responded to this question, 31.7 per cent said they had “little” interest, while 22.6 per cent said they had “no interest at all” in issues relating to Portugal.

Nonetheless, 62 per cent of Spanish said they have stayed in Portugal at least once – and 2.1 per cent said they have lived here, while 86 per cent of Portuguese said they have stayed in Spain at least once, and 3 per cent have lived there.

In general, in both countries, social relationships/ interaction between Portuguese and Spaniards are considered positive.

Bearing in mind the latest moves by our nation’s government, it’ll be interesting to see how opinions run in 2011…