France and Portugal

Share

Political relations

Our bilateral relationship with Portugal is excellent in all areas, and our cooperation has increased significantly in recent years. Our dialogue has increased with the signing of new agreements concerning language, taxation and education, as well as in the field of posted workers and health care.

Portugal is also one of France’s key international partners. In addition to European issues, we converge on major international issues, particularly in Africa.

Ambassadors

French Ambassador to Portugal: Hélène Farnaud-Defromont
Consulates-General of Portugal in France: Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg

French presence in Portugal and Portuguese presence in France

The French community in Portugal numbers between 30,000 and 35,000, of whom 17,608 are registered with the embassy (as of 2022). The Portuguese community in France is estimated at 1,720,000.

Visits

Several bilateral visits have provided an opportunity to address major European issues and highlight the many areas in which we converge, including within the framework of the French and Portuguese Presidencies of the Council of the European Union and the France-Portugal Season:

  • The Minister of State for Europe, Laurence Boone, met with her Portuguese counterpart, Tiago Antunes, in Paris on 20 September and 28 November 2022.
  • Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne made an official visit to Lisbon for the closure of the France-Portugal Season on 29 October 2022, accompanied by the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Culture.
  • The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Cravinho, visited Paris on 7 October 2022 during the France-Portugal Season, where he was received by Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna.
  • President Macron and the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, visited Lisbon for the United Nations Ocean Conference on 30 June 2022.
  • President Macron received the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, in Paris on 7 June 2022.
  • The Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister, António Costa, and several ministers, travelled to Paris on 11-12 February 2022 for the opening of the France-Portugal Season. The French Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot Narquin, visited Lisbon on 16 February that year. President Rebelo de Sousa also took part in the 2022 One Ocean Summit in Brest on 11 February, and the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Ricardo Serrão Santos, was there on 10 February.
  • Prime Minister António Costa and Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva were in Paris on 16 and 17 February 2022 for the European Union-African Union summit. Foreign Minister Santos Silva also took part in the Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in Paris on 22 February.
  • Olivier Dussopt, Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, travelled to Portugal on 2 December 2021 as part of preparations for the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. He was received by the Minister of State for Finance, João Leão, and the Deputy Minister for Finance and Tax Affairs, António Mendonça Mendes.
  • Sophie Cluzel, Minister of State for Disabled People, attached to the Prime Minister, visited Portugal on 19 and 20 November 2021 for the European Week for the Employment of People with Disabilities.

Economic relations

France is one of Portugal’s main trading partners. With €12.4 billion in trade in 2021, our country remains Portugal’s second-largest customer and foreign investor (behind Spain), and the third-largest supplier (behind Spain and Germany). Portugal, meanwhile, is France’s 17th-largest customer and 16th-largest supplier.

French companies are present in a range of sectors in Portugal, and many have been established there for many years. There are almost 1,000 subsidiaries of major French companies in Portugal. There is a significant and long-standing presence in industry, particularly with regard to transport but also in the areas of chemistry and electricity and electronics. For example, French car manufacturers and subcontractors (Stellantis, Renault, Faurecia, GMD Eurocast) and French aviation subcontractors (Lauak, Mecachrome) have factories in Portugal. Major retail companies also have a strong presence. The energy sector, and renewables in particular, is especially buoyant for French companies (e.g. investments by Engie).

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

In 2018, France and Portugal decided to take steps respectively to seek observer membership of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) for France and of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) for Portugal. France was admitted as an associated observer State within the CPLP through a decision of the conference of the Heads of State and Government meeting on 17 and 18 July 2018 in Santa Maria, Cabo Verde.

The France-Portugal Season, from February to October 2022, highlighted the themes of our soft diplomacy (Europe, ecological transition, preservation of global public goods, gender equality and young people). Some 1,000 events in 147 French and Portuguese towns, involving more than 800 contributors including artists, researchers, intellectuals and professionals, drew in an audience of 3 million.

Updated: February 2024

Useful links