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The green domed roof of the Pavilhao Rosa Mota seen from a tree-lined path in the Palacio de Cristal gardens in Porto

The Porto Book Fair Returns to the Palacio de Cristal Gardens for 17 Days, With 144 Stands and 83 Sessions for Children

The 13th edition opens at noon today with free entry, more than 200 events and a homage to the 83-year-old Porto poet Ines Lourenco. Guests include Mohammed El-Kurd, Angelica Liddell and Marie Darrieussecq.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

A PSP police station in a Portuguese town with a marked patrol car parked outside

Portugal's Interior Minister Drives a Car the Judicial Police Seized in a Criminal Case, and Former Ministers Say They Never Drove at All

Luis Neves kept the Volkswagen Golf GTD he used as head of the PJ, transferred to his ministry under a free-loan agreement in February. Driving it himself appears to breach the protocol attached to his grade 3 public threat level.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

Wind turbines lined along bare hilltops in northern Portugal under a clear sky

Portugal's Green Map for Solar and Wind Shrinks From 7% of the Mainland to 4%, With Each Council Held to 1% of Its Own Land

The Council of Ministers approved the PSZAER on Thursday, pre-clearing more than 800 areas for solar and wind across 147 of the mainland's 278 municipalities. Environmental, agricultural, water and heritage limits cut the mapped share almost in half.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

A red and white CP Alfa Pendular train waiting at a platform beneath the tree-like steel canopy of Lisbon's Oriente station

The Competition Authority Asks Portugal to Open Its Railways, and Says Any Rival Should Be Able to Use CP's Trains and Drivers

A study published on Thursday urges international tenders for future rail contracts and a strictly limited extension of CP's directly awarded deal. Across eight European cases, opening passenger rail cut ticket prices by an average of 28%.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

Aircraft parked on the apron at a Portuguese airport, with a TAP jet on the taxiway and a PGA regional aircraft at the gate

A Year After It Replaced SEF, the PSP's Border Unit Has Poured Almost 400 Officers Into Airport Queues and Left the Interior Bare

The UNEF turns one today. Its officers' union calls the year 'very turbulent', crediting nearly 400 extra police with clearing the Lisbon airport queues, but warns the regional units meant to inspect immigration inland were never set up.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

An open whitewashed dug well with a stone trough in dry Alentejo montado, surrounded by olive and cork oak trees

Sinking a Water Borehole in Portugal

The 5 horsepower rule, when a prior notification replaces a licence, the 100 metre spacing limit, and the fines for an undeclared well.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

A suburban house on a corner plot in Rio Tinto, Gondomar, on the eastern edge of Porto

Porto and Gondomar Swap Land Along a 34-Point Line, and 135 Homes Wake Up in a Different Municipality

Lei 56/2026 fixes a new Porto to Gondomar boundary at 34 surveyed points, from the Estrada da Circunvalacao down to the Douro. About 135 homes and 16 commercial premises change municipality, ending a process the two councils first agreed in 2012.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

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