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Light trails from evening traffic on a multi-lane road through Lisbon

From 29 November, Europe Starts Counting the Particles That Come Off Your Brakes and Tyres, Not Just Your Exhaust

Euro 7 applies from 29 November, but only to newly approved model types. It puts the first legal limits on brake and tyre particles, sets a floor under electric car battery capacity, and reaches every new car registered in Portugal a year later.

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

The curved glass and steel facade of the Berlaymont building in Brussels, headquarters of the European Commission, with three European Union flags flying in front of it under a pale sky.

A Non-EU Degree Takes Fourteen Months to Get Recognised in Europe, and Brussels Proposed on Tuesday to Cut That to Four

The Commission's Fair Labour Mobility package is five legislative proposals. The one that will be felt hardest in Portugal sets common standards for recognising a qualification earned outside the Union, where the current average wait is 14 months.

The Portugal Brief 15 Sep 2026

A Biedronka discount supermarket on a street corner in Poland, its yellow and red ladybird signs above a brick and brown-clad frontage, with cars parked outside

Poland Fined Jerónimo Martins 525 Million Zloty for Running a Pact That Kept Lorry Drivers From Changing Employer

The Polish competition regulator says the owner of Biedronka organised an agreement among the hauliers at its distribution centres not to hire one another's drivers, and enforced it by barring drivers who moved. Twenty-nine carriers and eight individuals were fined alongside it.

The Portugal Brief 14 Sep 2026

Avenida Samora Machel in Maputo looking towards the colonnaded city hall, with the Mozambican flag flying above it and cars parked under the trees on both sides

A Portuguese Brigadier General Inherits the EU's Mozambique Mission on Monday, and Its Legal Mandate Expires Fifteen Weeks Later

Brussels appointed Sergio Lino de Almeida Estrela EU Mission Force Commander on 10 September, effective Monday. A separate Council decision taken in May already fixes the end of EUMAM Mozambique at 31 December, and the assessment that decides what follows is due this month.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

An aerial view of Lisbon showing the runways of Humberto Delgado Airport running through the city, the Tagus estuary, the Vasco da Gama bridge and the Montijo airfield on the far bank.

Portugal Ratified the EU's Open-Skies Agreements With Ukraine and Armenia, and the Ukrainian Sky They Cover Has Been Shut to Civil Aircraft Since 2022

Two one-page decrees in Friday's gazette carry 103 pages of treaty text between them. The Ukraine deal opens in three stages and ends with EU carriers flying inside Ukraine, but EASA still advises operators to stay out of the airspace until 2027.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

The concourse of Terminal 1 at Lisbon Airport, with Portuguese overhead signage for saida and recolha de bagagem and passengers waiting with suitcases along the windows

Brussels Finished Its Border-Data Bargain With Washington on Thursday, and What Portugal Actually Hands Over Will Be Settled in a Separate Deal

The Enhanced Border Security Partnership framework is the price the United States set in 2022 for continued visa-free travel. It still needs European Parliament consent, and the exchanges themselves will be bilateral.

The Portugal Brief 10 Sep 2026

Rows of new Volkswagen cars lined up on the quayside at the Port of Setúbal waiting to be loaded onto a Grimaldi Lines car carrier for export.

Eleven Years Added 3.3 Percent to What an Hour of Portuguese Work Produces, Against 8.8 Percent Across the EU, and 2025 Came In Below 2022

Eurostat's 8 September update puts Portugal fourth from the bottom of the EU27 on productivity growth per hour and fourth from the bottom on the level, at 66.7 percent of the European average. The measure that flatters Portugal is the one that ignores its 1,904-hour working year.

The Portugal Brief 09 Sep 2026

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