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The dark red and white facade of the Liceu Passos Manuel state secondary school in Lisbon, seen from the street behind iron railings

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 Portugal Brief 01 Sep 2026

A Lisbon street waste-collection point with metal underground bin hatches, a blue used cooking oil container and a red bin, beside parked cars

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.

The Portugal Brief 01 Sep 2026

A group of cork oaks with bark stripped to the red inner trunk, standing beside a dirt track in backlit Portuguese woodland

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.

The Portugal Brief 01 Sep 2026

Two linemen in harnesses suspended from the conductors of a REN high-voltage overhead power line against a blue sky with cloud

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.

The Portugal Brief 01 Sep 2026

A disused riverside industrial site with a tall brick chimney on a green hillside above a quay on the Tagus near Lisbon

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.

The Portugal Brief 01 Sep 2026

The long yellow neoclassical facade of the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Lisbon, with Portuguese and European Union flags flying from a first-floor balcony

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

The Portugal Brief 01 Sep 2026

CGTP trade union demonstration in a Lisbon square, with marchers carrying long red banners and red flags

Three Unions Set 2 October as the Strike Date for Portugal's 350,000 General-Career Public Workers

The national public services federation, STAL and the Lisbon municipal workers' union have called a joint stoppage for Friday 2 October, plus an 11am demonstration in Lisbon, demanding pay talks open now rather than in 2027.

The Portugal Brief 01 Sep 2026

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