Proud Portugal leaves mixed EU presidency record

With Portugal at its chair, the EU completed two major projects – its new treaty and an expansion of its passport free zone to include nine new member states.

When small Portugal took over the EU's six-month rotating presidency from the bloc's largest member Germany on 1 July, it found itself faced with the tricky task of clearing the last political hurdles standing in the way of a new EU treaty.

Berlin had used all its political weight to forge a deal on a detailed treaty bluepri...