  We consider supersymmetric scenarios in which the scale of SUSY breaking is
low, sqrt{F}=O(TeV). Instead of studying specific models of this type, e.g.
those with extra dimensions and low fundamental scale, we follow a
model-independent approach based on a general effective Lagrangian, in which
the MSSM supermultiplets are effectively coupled to a singlet associated to
SUSY breaking. Our goal is to analyse the interplay bewteen SUSY breaking and
electroweak breaking, generalizing earlier results. The conventional MSSM
picture can be substantially modified, mainly because the Higgs potential
contains additional effective quartic terms and resembles that of
two-Higgs-doublet models, with an additional singlet. Novel opportunities to
achieve electroweak breaking arise, and the electroweak scale may be obtained
in a less fine-tuned way. Also the Higgs spectrum can be strikingly changed,
and the lightest state can be much heavier than in usual supersymmetric
scenarios. Other effects appear in the chargino and neutralino sectors, which
contain the goldstino. Finally, we discuss the role of electroweak breaking in
processes in which two goldstinos could be emitted, such as fermion-antifermion
annihilation and the invisible decay of a Z boson or of neutral Higgs bosons.
