Social Security in Portugal: harmonizing for Europe 1992.

One of the most important aspects of the pending free market of the European Community of 1992 is the free movement of labor among the 12 Member States. Without a fairly even level of social security development, such free movement of workers could produce large social and economic dislocations due to the unevenness of economic development within the Community. Portugal, one of the lesser developed member nations of the European Community, has been in the vanguard in revamping social legislation in order to meet the demands of the European free market. Among the more important Portuguese legislative actions are those dealing with unemployment insurance and the role of social security authorities in the supervision of private pensions. These issues and other aspects of the modernization of Portugal’s social insurance and welfare programs are reviewed along with brief descriptions of the overall Portuguese social security program and the form and function of the social dimension of the European Community.