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Breaking news and developing stories from across Portugal.

The platform at Gare do Oriente in Lisbon at night, with a CP train beneath the station's steel canopy

Too Few Complaints Sent Portugal's Ombudsman Into the Metro, and 25 Recommendations Came Back Out

The Provedoria de Justiça opened its inquiry into transport accessibility in Lisbon and Porto precisely because so few people were complaining. At Oriente it counted five of fourteen platform lifts out of service, and in Lisbon a fifth of the bus fleet is not accessible.

The Portugal Brief 21 Sep 2026

The Procuradoria-Geral da República at Palácio Palmela in Lisbon, the body that issues apostilles in Portugal today

Portugal's Notaries Are Set to Start Issuing Apostilles, and the Data Watchdog Named Five Conditions Before the Platform Can Open

A draft ordinance would finally switch on a power written into the Notarial Statute in 2004, letting notaries issue apostilles through a platform run by the Ordem dos Notários. The CNPD cleared it on 8 September with five changes, from retention periods to blocking AI crawlers.

The Portugal Brief 21 Sep 2026

The perimeter wall, gate and watchtower of the Estabelecimento Prisional de Coimbra seen from the street on a clear day

A Risk Supplement Now Reaches Almost Every Desk at Portugal's Prison Service, and the Guards Are Written Out of It by Name

Two decree-laws in Wednesday's gazette rebuild the careers of the people who supervise prisoners and ankle tags, backdate the package to 1 July 2025, and abolish the prison administrator career outright. Paragraph 6 leaves the guard corps out.

The Portugal Brief 17 Sep 2026

Two tracks of the Linha do Norte running straight into the distance under overhead catenary, with a Portuguese warning sign beside the ballast

Portugal Tells Brussels That Regauging Its Railways Would Cost Up to 6.9 Billion Euros and Take Thirty Years

The Infraestruturas de Portugal study sent to Brussels concludes that migrating the national network to European gauge will hardly be justifiable. Spain reached the same conclusion in July, and Spain is the country whose decision settles Portugal's.

The Portugal Brief 17 Sep 2026

A concrete and brick apartment block under construction in the Algarve beneath a yellow tower crane, with red and white barrier tape across the open floors

New-Home Construction Costs Slowed to 6.8 Percent in July, With Copper Wire Up 25 Percent and Not a Single Material Cheaper Than a Year Ago

INE's ICCHN eased 0.6 points on the previous month, and for the first time this year labour and materials contributed equally at 3.4 percentage points each. The month-on-month change was zero. PVC pipe is up 20 percent and bitumen 15.

The Portugal Brief 09 Sep 2026

The white two-storey Camara Municipal de Pombal, housed in the former Convento do Cardal, seen from the road on a bright day with the church tower beside it

Portugal's Municipalities Are Asking for 25.3 Percent of State Tax Revenue Instead of 19.5, and Expect to See the New Local Finance Law by the End of November

ANMP president Pedro Pimpao says the current share dates from the troika-era 2013 amendment and no longer makes sense. The association also wants a cut of fuel taxes and of the Fundo Ambiental, and sight of the draft before anyone else sees it.

The Portugal Brief 09 Sep 2026

The rust-red exterior wall of the Companhia de Bombeiros Sapadores de Braga fire station, its name in large white lettering above a bank of wild grass

The Head of Portugal's National Firefighters School Quit in a Seventeen-Page Letter Accusing the Firefighters League President of Blackmail

Lidio Lopes stands down from 1 October, two years short of his term. He names Antonio Nunes, describes a threat to create a Superior Firefighters Academy inside the school, and puts more than a million euros of wasted ANEPC training money on the record.

The Portugal Brief 09 Sep 2026

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