Free Portuguese Courses for Foreigners in Portugal (PLA)
Who can join the free state Portuguese course, where it runs, how to enrol, the levels, and what the A2 certificate counts for after the 2026 law.
The Portugal Brief
558 Teachers Retire This Month and 2,650 Timetables Sit Empty, and the Minister's Bridge Across the Gap Is 20 Million Euros of Overtime
FENPROF counts 2,650 unfilled school-contract timetables, more than 50,000 hours, with 378 whole timetables empty in the first cycle. Fernando Alexandre says no teacher is missing from the classroom because the state paid 20 million euros in overtime to June.
The Environment Minister Concedes the Volta Deposit Scheme Has Problems, Starting With the People Emptying Recycling Bins for the 10-Cent Refund
Maria da Graça Carvalho told journalists in Brussels that festivals, the hospitality trade, too few machines and people rummaging bins for the 10-cent refund are all being worked on case by case. Dedicated containers beside existing bins are under study.
Covilhã's Master Plan Would Clear 1,400 Cork Oaks for an Industrial Park, and the Council's Own Environmental Report Contradicts Itself About Them
Quercus says the Tortosendo expansion would fell about 1,400 protected cork oaks, dozens of them centuries old, days before the consultation closes on 4 September. Page 368 of the council's report both records cork oak forest and denies finding any.
Portugal Was Europe's Only Fully Private Grid Operator, and the Energy Minister Says Brussels Understood Why the State Bought Back In
Maria da Graça Carvalho told journalists in Brussels that the European Commission accepted the State's 13.7 percent return to REN on security and sovereignty grounds. The purchase still needs the Court of Auditors and an ERSE opinion.
Portugal Logged 375 Collective Redundancy Procedures by July, the Most Since the Pandemic, and Fewer People Actually Lost Their Jobs
DGERT's July report puts notified procedures up about 13 percent to 375, the highest January to July count since 2020. Workers actually dismissed fell 11.4 percent to 4,055. Micro and small firms filed 279 of the 375; Lisbon and the Tagus Valley 221.
Markets, Business & Tech Briefing: PSI Rises 0.44% as Europe Sells Bonds, the 2027 Interest Bill Grows €776 Million, 36% of August's New Cars Were Electric
📋 In This Edition
* Lisbon Was One of the Few European Markets That Went Up
* Portugal's Twenty-Year Yield Is Back Where It Was in 2017
* The 2027 Budget Already Owes 776 Million Euros More in Interest
* Public Debt Fell 7.6 Billion Euros in July, and Almost None of