Cape Verde independence for the archipelago in 1975. Following the April 1974 revolution in Portugal, the PAIGC became an active political movement in Cape Verde. In December 1974, the PAIGC and Portugal signed an agreement providing for a transitional government composed of Portuguese and Cape Verdeans. On 30 June 1975, Cape Verdeans elected a National Assembly which received the instruments of independence from Portugal on 5 July 1975. In the late 1970s and 1980s, most African countries prohibited South African Airways from overflights but Cape Verde allowed them and became a centre of activity for the airline's flights to Europe and the
Cape Verde–European Union relations of the beneficiaries of the EU's regional cooperation programme with Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) countries: Angola, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe. In March 2005 former Portuguese president Mário Soares launched a petition urging the European Union to start membership talks with Cape Verde, saying the country could act as a bridge between Africa, Latin America and the EU. Cape Verde's per capita GDP is lower than any of the current member states, accession countries, or candidate countries. However, it is higher than that of some of the EU-designated "potential candidate countries" of the Western Balkans like