social

Government

Assembleia da República Greenlights Lei de Política Criminal 2026-2028 With Prison-Crew Forest-Cleaning Mandate, Stop-and-Search Powers in Zonas de Criminalidade de Impacto Social and a Priority-Crime List Headed by Arson

Parliament passed the Lei de Política Criminal (Criminal Policy Law) for 2026-2028 on 12 June, putting prison-crew forest-cleaning and police pat-downs in high-impact-crime zones onto the statute. PSD, Chega, IL and CDS-PP carried; Livre, PCP, BE opposed; PS, PAN, JPP abstained.

12 June 2026

Government

Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Warns Portugal Over 103.4% Prison Occupancy — Sets September 2027 Review Window After 'Tangible Progress' Demand

The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers warned on 12 June that Portugal faces fresh action unless prison occupancy — at a 2017-high 103.4% — drops materially by September 2027. The European Court of Human Rights is expected to issue a comprehensive ruling on detention conditions by end-2026.

12 June 2026

Economy

INE Pins May 2026 CPI at 3.3% for Second Straight Month — Core Inflation Holds 2.2% as Energy Reaccelerates to 13.1% and Unprocessed Food Cools to 5.7%

INE's 12 June release confirms Portugal's CPI held at 3.3% year-on-year in May for a second consecutive month, with underlying inflation stuck at 2.2%, energy prices accelerating to 13.1% and unprocessed food decelerating to 5.7%. The IHPC now runs 0.1 percentage points below the eurozone.

12 June 2026

Healthcare

Nationwide SNS IT Outage Sends Hospitals and Health Centres Back to Paper Prescriptions — SPMS Blames Morning Power Failure as Pharmacies Lose Access to the Receituário Database and SIM Calls Patient Risk 'Intolerable'

A national outage of the IT systems that underpin the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (National Health Service, SNS) started shortly before 09:00 on Friday 12 June 2026 and was still degrading hospitals, primary-care centres and pharmacies five hours...

12 June 2026

Politics

Tribunal de Contas Brands Carlos Moedas's Plano Lisboa 65+ 'Redundante e Ineficiente' on 9 June — 15,293 of 130,000 Eligible Seniors Enrolled While Half the Spend Routed to Pareceres, Publicity and Graphic Design

The Tribunal de Contas (Court of Audit) released on Tuesday 9 June 2026 a long-awaited audit of the Plano Lisboa 65+ — the municipal health-and-wellbeing programme Mayor Carlos Moedas launched at the Paços do Concelho on 20 October 2022...

9 June 2026

Politics

Portugal Approaches the 7 June 2026 EU Pay-Transparency Directive Deadline Without a Published Lei de Transposição — Diretiva 2023/970 Tilts the Country Into Article 258 TFEU Infringement-Risk Territory

Directive (EU) 2023/970 — the EU Pay-Transparency Directive — must be transposed into Portuguese law by Sunday 7 June 2026. Lisbon has not yet tabled a diploma. ACT is already enforcing on Directive spirit; Article 258 TFEU infringement-risk territory opens on Monday.

5 June 2026

Politics

President António José Seguro Warns the 15th National Misericórdias Congress That Demographic Ageing Is Portugal's 'Time Bomb' (Bomba-Relógio) and Names Immigrants as the Social Sector's Load-Bearing Input

President António José Seguro opened the 15th National Misericórdias Congress in Braga on 4 June 2026 by branding Portuguese demographic ageing a 'bomba-relógio' and crediting immigrant workers with holding the 388-strong, 52,000-worker network together.

5 June 2026