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The white art deco facade of the Terreiro do Paço ferry terminal in Lisbon, with three tall arched windows, a clock above the central arch and Lisbon taxis parked along the kerb in front.

Cash Is No Longer Accepted at the Terreiro do Paço Ferry Counter, and the European Rule That Would Settle It Is Still Unfinished

Transtejo Soflusa went card only at its staffed Lisbon ticket office on 14 September. An association has asked for the legal basis. Euro cash is legal tender, but what that obliges was left to a 2010 recommendation, and Portugal attaches no penalty to a refusal.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The long yellow and white facade of Portugal's Ministry of Finance on Avenida Infante D. Henrique in Lisbon, with the Portuguese and European Union flags above the marble main entrance

Markets, Business & Tech Briefing: Sarmento Prices the VAT Cuts at Two Billion Euros, Zara's Owner Discounted the REN Sale, Six Bidders Line Up for Azores Airlines

📋 In This Edition * Sarmento Puts a Two Billion Euro Price on the Opposition's VAT Cuts and Says They Would End the Surplus * Lisbon Reopens 1.33 Percent Below a Record It Set on Thursday, After a Week That Gained 0.18 Percent * Portuguese Banks Hold 102 Billion Euros

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The Port of Leixoes at Matosinhos in Portugal, with gantry cranes and a container ship at the far quay and rows of shipping containers on wagons along the near wharf

Two of Ten Containers of Portuguese Aid Have Docked at La Guaira, Carrying the First of 240 Tonnes Raised After June's Earthquakes

Seven containers sailed from Lisbon and three from Leixoes, collected by Portuguese and Luso-Venezuelan diaspora associations. Thirteen local bodies took between 10 and 15 pallets each at the first handover.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The white station building of Castelo Branco on Portugal's Beira Baixa Line, with blue tiled panels, a red tiled roof and a train standing at the platform behind

Trains Are Running Again on the Whole of the Beira Baixa Line, and the Buses That Stood In for Them Since March Are Gone

The Mouriscas-A to Vila Velha de Rodao section reopened on Sunday after 3.4 million euros of repairs to two landslides left by Storm Kristin. Regionais, Intercidades and freight run the full 240 kilometres again.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

Rows of new Volkswagen T-Roc cars lined up on the quayside at the port of Setubal in Portugal in front of the orange and white hull of a Grimaldi car carrier

While Volkswagen Sheds 50,000 More Jobs Worldwide, Portugal and Spain Are Being Asked to Build One in Ten of Its Cars

Ten billion euros goes to Autoeuropa, Martorell, Pamplona and the Sagunto battery plant, and the group's Iberian production chief says a record million vehicles is reachable next year. August output here fell 45 percent.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The pink baroque facade of the Guimaraes Court of Appeal on a cobbled street, with stone-framed windows, wrought-iron balconies and an armorial portal

A Non-Compete Clause That Paid Nothing Cost an Insurance Agency 120,000 Euros, Until the Guimaraes Court of Appeal Struck It Down

The agency was barred from competing for two years after leaving the DS Seguros network and paid nothing for the wait. Enforcing the penalty, the appeal court held, was an abuse of right. ECO reports at least 59 similar actions against former agents.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The words Ministerio das Financas carved into the pale stone lintel above an arched green doorway in the east wing of Lisbon's Praca do Comercio

Portugal Keeps Every Proposed New EU Tax on the Table, and Objects Instead to Touching Russia's Frozen Assets

At the informal Ecofin in Dublin, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento said Portugal has no absolute red lines on the own resources meant to fund the 2028 to 2034 EU budget. On the 200 billion euros of frozen Russian assets, he said there is a line the euro cannot survive crossing.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

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