2002 in Portugal

← 2001 2000 1999 2002 in Portugal → 2003 2004 2005
Centuries:	19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	List of years in Portugal

Events in the year 2002 in Portugal.

Incumbents

• President: Jorge Sampaio
• Prime Minister: José Manuel Barroso (PSD)

Events

January to April

• 1 January – Euro banknotes and coins enter circulation with a conversion rate of $200.5 for every €1, with both the escudo and the euro being legal tender until 28 February.[1] By 5 January the BBC reports that the euro is the chosen currency for over half of all transactions.[2]
• 18 January – Nurse Maria do Ceu Ribeiro is sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison after performing more than 100 illegal abortions over fifteen years in the town of Maia. The four-month trial also concludes with Ribeiro being found guilty of the illegal use of anaesthetics and of falsifying prescriptions.[3]
• 30 January – The European Commission advises that the Portuguese government be formally cautioned over its increasing budget deficit, which grew to 2.2% of GDP in 2001, double the 1.1% that was forecast.[4]

8 February: The Alqueva dam (pictured in 2007) opens

• 8 February – The $1.7bn Alqueva dam begins operation on the Guadiana river at the Évora–Beja district border, starting the process of creating a 250-square-kilometre (97 sq mi) reservoir which will become Europe's largest artificial lake.[5]
• 18 February – Data from the Instituto Nacional de Estatística reveals that 2001 saw a marginal rise in the national unemployment rate to 4.1%, an increase of 0.1% compared to 2000.[6]
• 17 March – Legislative election: The Social Democratic Party (PSD) led by José Manuel Barroso defeats the governing Socialist Party to become the largest party in the Assembly of the Republic with 40.1% of the vote and 105 seats.[7] Short of an overall majority in the 230-seat Assembly, the PSD enters into a coalition alongside the CDS – People's Party with Barroso nominated by President Jorge Sampaio to lead the government as the next Prime Minister.[8]

May to December

• 7 May – The 2002 Globos de Ouro awards ceremony is held with Manoel de Oliveira's Vou Para Casa winning the prize for Best Film.[9][10]
• 17 May – Proposals to renovate the former headquarters of the Estado Novo security agency PIDE in Lisbon into luxury accommodation prompts criticism from anti-fascist campaigners over suggestions that acts of torture committed within against political opponents by PIDE's secret police will go unrecognised in the building's new guise.[11]
• 20 May - Portuguese Timor, the last Portuguese colony, becomes the independent country East Timor
• 13 June – The Portuguese national football team are eliminated from the 2002 FIFA World Cup after a 1–0 loss to co-hosts South Korea in the round of sixteen.[12]
• 25 June – Six people are arrested after police raid an address in Albufeira suspected of manufacturing and supplying ecstacy. The culmination of a year-long investigation, almost 83,000 ecstacy tablets are seized in what is Portugal's first instance of police dismantling a drugs factory.[13]

Track map of Estoril, venue of the 2002 Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix

• 15 August – Denmark's Claus Møller wins the 2002 Volta a Portugal with a time of 47 hours, 51 minutes and 33 seconds, beating his Milaneza–MSS teammate Joan Horrach by a margin of five seconds.[14]
• 8 September – Italy's Valentino Rossi wins the 2002 Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix held at the Circuito do Estoril.[15]
• 10 December – The General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (CGTP) stages a one-day strike of its 800,000 members in protest over the government's proposed reforms to employment law. Public transport, schools, healthcare facilities, government agencies, and postal services are all impacted, with claims over the proportion of union members striking varying between the 90% announced by CGTP head Manuel Carvalho da Silva and the 13% suggested by Labour Minister Antonio Bagao Felix.[16]

Sports

• 18 to 23 August – The 2002 World Fencing Championships were held in Lisbon
• 9 September – Start of the 2002–03 Taça de Portugal
• Football (soccer) competitions: Primeira Liga, Liga de Honra

Arts and entertainment

Literature

• The Double (Portuguese: O Homem Duplicado), novel by José Saramago

Film

Main article: List of Portuguese films of 2002

• Light Drops, original title O Gotejar da Luz, a Portuguese/Mozambican film directed by Fernando Vendrell

Births

• 2 March – Eduardo Quaresma, footballer.[17]
• 19 November – Nenny, singer-songwriter and rapper

Deaths

• 13 February – Carlos Aboim Inglez, politician (b. 1930).[18]
• 22 February – Marcelino Vespeira, painter (b. 1925).[19]
• 29 April – Fernando Pessa, journalist (b. 1902).[20]
• 22 August – Bruce Guimaraens, winemaker (b. 1935).[21]
• 1 December – Baltasar Rebelo de Sousa, politician and doctor (b. 1921).[22]

See also

• List of Portuguese films of 2002

References

1. "Q&A: Euro cash launch". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2 January 2002. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
2. Bloom, Jonty; Coughlin, Geraldine (5 January 2002). "Euro sweeps up old currencies". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
3. "Nurse jailed for illegal abortions in Portugal". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. 18 January 2002. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
4. "Germany warned on deficit". CNN. 30 January 2002. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
5. "Portugal opens Europe's largest dam". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 8 February 2002. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
6. Carregueiro, Nuno (18 February 2002). "Taxa de desemprego em Portugal sobe para 4,1% em 2001". Jornal de Negocios (in Portuguese). Retrieved 14 August 2020.
7. Freire, A.; Lobo, M.C. (2002). "ELECTION REPORT - The Portuguese 2002 Legislative Elections". West European Politics. 25 (4): 221–228. doi:10.1080/713601634.
8. "Portugal gets new prime minister". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 21 March 2002. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
9. "Cinema Português 2002". Instituto Camões. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
10. "Todos os vencedores da história dos Globos de Ouro". Caras (in Portuguese). 19 May 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
11. Roberts, Alison (17 May 2002). "Lisbon's 'torture' house project sparks row". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
12. "Korea send Portugal home". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 13 June 2002. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
13. "PJ faz apreensão recorde de "ecstasy" e desmantela primeira fábrica em Portugal". Publico (in Portuguese). Lusa News Agency. 25 July 2002. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
14. "Moller, vencedor final en Portugal". El Mundo (in Spanish). Unidad Editorial. 15 August 2002. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
15. Fornet, Óscar (8 September 2002). "La mala suerte aparta a Sete de la victoria en MotoGP". El Mundo (in Spanish). Unidad Editorial. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
16. "Strikers bring Portugal to halt". CNN. 10 December 2002. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
17. "Eduardo Quaresma". soccerway.com. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
18. Martins, Alexandre (12 February 2002). "Morreu o dirigente comunista Carlos Aboim Inglez". Publico (in Portuguese). Retrieved 8 August 2020.
19. "Marcelino Vespeira morre aos 77 anos". Publico (in Portuguese). 23 February 2002. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
20. "Morreu Fernando Pessa". Publico (in Portuguese). 29 April 2002. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
21. "Bruce Guimaraens". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 14 September 2002. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
22. "Morreu Baltazar Rebelo de Sousa". Publico (in Portuguese). Lusa News Agency. 1 December 2002. Retrieved 13 August 2020.