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] The BBC reports that by 5 January 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 for falsifying prescriptions.[3]
8 February: The Alqueva dam (pictured in 2007) in southern Portugal opens
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 $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 there was a marginal rise in the national unemployment rate in 2001 to 4.1%, an increase of 0.1% compared to 2000.[6]
6 April – José Manuel Barosso is sworn in as Prime Minister of Portugal as the head of a coalition between the PSD and the CDS – People's Party, with the leader of the latter party, Paulo Portas, becoming the new Defence Minister.[9]
17 May – Proposals to renovate the former Lisbon headquarters of the Estado Novo security agency and secret police PIDE into luxury accommodation attract criticism from anti-fascist campaigners, who express concerns that historic acts of torture committed on-site against political opponents by PIDE's secret police will go unrecognised in the building's new guise.[13]
20 May - The former colony of Portuguese Timor in southeast Asia becomes the independent country of East Timor, bringing to a close 24 years of Indonesian occupation since the end of Portuguese rule in 1975.[14]
13 June – In association football, the Portugal national team are eliminated from the 2002 FIFA World Cup after a 1–0 loss to co-hosts South Korea in the round of sixteen.[15] Manager Antonio Oliveira is later dismissed from his position on 25 June after failing to perform to expectations.[16]
25 June – Six people are arrested and almost 83,000 ecstasy tablets are seized after police dismantle a drugs factory in Albufeira, the first known action of its kind in Portugal.[17]
July to September
26 July – The European Commission confirms that it will commence a sanctions procedure against Portugal following an increase in the country's national deficit to 4.1% of GDP, beyond the 3.0% agreed by Eurozone member states in 1997. The rise comes despite an agreement reached earlier in the year between the European Commission and the government to eliminate the deficit by 2004.[18]
7 December: The Porto Metro is inaugurated with services running between the Trindade (pictured in 2005) and Senhor de Matosinhos stations
21 October – The results of the 2001 census are released, showing a 5.0% rise in the national population to 10,356,117 since the last census in 1991.[21]
23 November – Paratrooper Diogo Miguel Ribeirinho Dantas is confirmed as a victim of the terrorist bombings in Bali on 12 October after being reported missing since the attack.[22] Ribeirinho, who was on leave from the United Nations peacekeeping mission in East Timor, is Portugal's sole casualty in the bombings.[23]
7 December – The Porto Metro is officially opened by Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso in a ceremony held at the Casa da Música train station. Initially consisting of a single route 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) in length between the Trindade and Senhor de Matosinhos stations, the system is expected to expand to cover multiple routes stretching 70 kilometres (43 mi) by 2004.[24]
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, impacting public transport, schools, healthcare facilities, government agencies, and postal services.[25]
^"Q&A: Euro cash launch". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2 January 2002. Archived from the original on 16 December 2002. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^Bloom, Jonty; Coughlin, Geraldine (5 January 2002). "Euro sweeps up old currencies". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 19 October 2002. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
^Molnar, Andrea Katalin (2010). Timor Leste: Politics, History, and Culture. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. p. 5. ISBN9781135228859.
^"Korea send Portugal home". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 13 June 2002. Archived from the original on 3 August 2002. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^"Portugal sack Oliveira". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 June 2002. Archived from the original on 20 December 2002. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
^Updike, John (19 September 2004). "Two's A Crowd". The New Yorker. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
^Câmara, Vasco (12 February 2002). "Filme de Fernando Vendrell apresentado" [Fernando Vendrell's film presented]. Público (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 18 November 2002. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
