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A Portuguese tax office in Albufeira in the Algarve, with two blue 'financas' signs of the Autoridade Tributaria at street level beneath white apartment blocks and a palm tree

The Tax Authority Warns of Fake Emails Telling Freelancers to Issue 'Missing' Green Receipts

Portugal's tax authority (AT) has warned self-employed workers about fake emails, sent in its name, claiming they have 'missing' recibos verdes to issue and pushing them to a malicious link built to steal Portal das Finanças logins. Here is how the scam works and what the AT advises.

The Portugal Brief 29 Jul 2026

The medieval castle of Leiria rising on a wooded hill above the city's dusk-lit central square, in the district worst hit by Storm Kristin

Six Months After Storm Kristin, Portugal Has Paid Out Billions but Its Hardest-Hit Towns Are Still Waiting to Rebuild

Half a year after Storm Kristin battered central Portugal on 28 January, insurers have settled 80 percent of housing claims and public aid tops €3.5 billion. Yet only a quarter of the €5.3 billion in damage was insured, businesses in Marinha Grande remain shut, and a labour shortage is stalling the

The Portugal Brief 28 Jul 2026

The curved Art Deco facade of the Escola Secundaria Jose Falcao in Coimbra, a Portuguese state secondary school, its name carved above the entrance under a clear blue summer sky

Portugal Weighs Delaying the Secondary School Year by a Week After a Troubled First All-Digital Exam Season

Education Minister Fernando Alexandre says pushing the start of the secondary school year back by a week is 'on the table', giving teachers time to recover after a marking season disrupted by Portugal's first all-digital national exams. A platform outage locked graders out of some 300,000 scripts an

The Portugal Brief 28 Jul 2026

A close-up of pink ten-euro banknotes overlaid with scattered ten-cent euro coins, the European Union flag and ECB signature visible on the notes

Ministers Push for a 2027 Minimum Wage Above the Agreed €970 as Economists Warn of a Squeeze on the Middle of the Pay Scale

Portugal's minimum wage is set to rise to €970 in 2027, but the Secretary of State for Labour wants more and unions are pressing for €1,000 to €1,050. Employers and economists urge caution, warning that lifting the floor too fast into a stagnant economy would squeeze the pay of workers just above it

The Portugal Brief 28 Jul 2026

Black-and-white 1940 portrait of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul who issued visas to refugees fleeing Nazism, in a dark suit and tie

The Jesuit Refugee Service Calls On Portugal to Revive Suspended EU Resettlement Programmes as the 1951 Refugee Convention Turns 75

On the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Jesuit Refugee Service is urging Lisbon to reactivate the EU resettlement and relocation programmes Portugal suspended, citing administrative strain. Director André Costa Jorge invokes Aristides de Sousa Mendes and Portugal's self-image as

The Portugal Brief 28 Jul 2026

Iced doughnuts, cherry bakewell tarts, chocolate and chocolate-chip cookies arranged around the word SUGAR spelled out in white sugar on a wooden table

Almost 40 Percent of Portuguese Children Aged 5 to 14 Carry Excess Weight, and One in Eight Is Already Obese

A new INE survey finds that close to 40 percent of Portuguese children aged five to fourteen are overweight or obese, with one in eight — around 132,000 — already obese. Nearly 45 percent regularly eat fast food, ultra-processed products or sugary drinks, and rates run highest in the Azores, the Nor

The Portugal Brief 28 Jul 2026

The neoclassical Rectory building of the University of Porto at blue hour, Portugal

Exam-Grading Chaos Freezes University Applications: Just 304 Sign Up on Day One, Against 10,000 a Year Ago

Portugal's national university-access competition opened with only 304 first-day applications, down from 10,183 a year ago, as thousands await revised exam grades after digital-marking errors. There are 56,790 places; the first phase still closes on 6 August, with results due 23 August.

The Portugal Brief 24 Jul 2026

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