Weekly Digest: September 13 to September 20, 2026

The week's most important Portugal stories, curated from our daily coverage.

Last week the government announced the money. This week it put numbers on it: an IRS cut worth 12 euros a year to someone on a 1,000 euro salary, a one-off supplement of up to 200 euros for two million pensioners in December, and another cent off diesel tax from Monday. The electricity tariff moves the other way on 1 October. Away from the household budget, parliament argued over whether next year's security report should record an offender's nationality, Revolut confirmed it released customer files to impostors writing from a real government email domain, and easyJet's cabin crew voted for two strikes, one in October and one the week before Christmas. If you missed anything, start here.

The Interior Minister Would Put Offenders' Nationality in Next Year's Security Report, and the 251 Percent Figure Behind the Debate Is Mostly One Residual Category

Parliament debated the 2025 internal security report on Wednesday and Luis Neves said he is open to adding a nationality column to the 2026 edition. The number doing the arguing, a 251 percent rise in immigration-related occurrences, mostly sits in a heading the report never itemises: 838 of the 1,205 cases.

The Bill That Would Stop Every AIMA Lawsuit Landing in One Lisbon Court Reached the Floor of Parliament on Wednesday

Proposta de Lei 98/XVII would send actions against the migration agency to the court nearest the claimant's own address, and create specialised immigration divisions inside the administrative courts that already exist. The government counts 152,000 pending cases and a 34 percent resolution rate.

Portugal Offers Its Border Officers 160 Euros a Month Backdated to July, and 230 From Next Year, to Stop Them Leaving the Passport Desks

The supplement is aimed only at the PSP's air-border unit and the GNR's coastal and border unit, the two teams that staff arrivals at Lisbon, Porto and Faro. The ministry says it is meant to prevent a new degradation of the service. The unions have not accepted it.

Only Georgia and Russia Fell Further: Portugal Lands Among Europe's Largest Democratic Retreats Since 2020

The country still sits in the world's top 20 on representation. Underneath that, Rule of Law dropped twelve places, Participation twenty, and freedom of expression recorded one of the ten steepest five-year falls measured anywhere.

Portugal's Fifth IRS Cut Is Worth 12 Euros a Year on a 1,000 Euro Salary and 344 on a Household of Eight Thousand, and Parliament Has Yet to Vote It

The Council of Ministers approved cuts of 0.3 to 0.5 points across the first six brackets on Thursday, alongside a pension supplement, a fuel package and a national rail pass. The IRS piece went through as a bill rather than a decree, so the Assembleia da Republica has to pass it before anyone sees it in a payslip.

Two Million Pensioners Get Up to 200 Euros in December, and the Cut-Off Sits at 1,611 Euros a Month

The brackets are now fixed: 200 euros at the bottom, 150 in the middle, 100 above that and nothing over 1,611.13 euros a month. It is paid once, with the December pension, and it does not lift the base pension.

The Regulated Electricity Tariff Rises 2.7 Percent on 1 October, Turning This Year's Promised 1 Percent Increase Into 1.7

ERSE has moved the energy component of the regulated tariff by half a cent a kilowatt hour, and points at the war between Iran and the United States feeding through gas prices into electricity. It reaches 779,000 clients directly, and the free market buys in the same wholesale market.

Diesel Tax Falls Another Cent on Monday, and the Prime Minister Refuses to Go Further

Friday's gazette order sets the extraordinary rebate at 10.88 cents a litre on diesel and 7.42 on petrol. Montenegro put this year's measures at 2,300 million euros and ruled out the deeper cut Iniciativa Liberal wants, saying he is not going to be the father of austerity.

Impostors Emailing From a Real Government Domain Got Revolut to Release Customer Files on 680 Accounts

The bank confirmed on Wednesday that it answered fraudulent information requests sent from a legitimate public authority's email domain. Addresses, verification photographs and identity documents went out. Revolut will not say whether Portuguese clients are among them.

The Bank of Portugal Named Its Third Unlicensed Lender in Nine Days on Friday, and This One Takes Its Applications Through a Facebook Page

Financeira Zona and XNET BANCO are not authorised to grant credit in Portugal, the regulator says. Four of its five recent warnings point at a website rather than a building, and the only defence is a free register anyone can check before sending a document.

For the First Time, More Portuguese Home Loans Sit on a Mixed Rate Than a Variable One, and August's Average Payment Reached 418 Euros

Mixed-rate contracts passed 48 percent of the stock in July, overtaking variable rate for the first time on record. INE puts the average rate at 3.162 percent and the average instalment at 418 euros, exactly half of it interest.

The Labour Minister Says Women Are Still Dismissed for Being Pregnant, and the EU Law Meant to Help Is Three Months Overdue

Requests for a CITE opinion on a parental dismissal fall on women ten times more often than on men. The pay transparency directive was due in force on 7 June, and Portugal's transposing bill has not yet reached the Council of Ministers.

Poland Fined Jeronimo 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 Pay Order That Decides Whether Portugal's Emergency Rooms Stay Staffed Has Still Not Been Published, and the Locums Are Threatening October

A portaria setting hourly rates for medicos tarefeiros was due with the rest of the SNS package and has not appeared. Their association says a cut brings a massive stoppage, and hospitals have until 30 September to sign contracts nobody can yet price.

Half the Foreign Visitors Treated in Portugal's Emergency Rooms Carry No Cover, and the Health Inspectorate Wants the Fee Taken at the Door

IGAS has asked two Local Health Units to consider charging non-residents on entry to the emergency department rather than at discharge, and to add a compulsory check-out point. Its survey found 92,189 non-residents treated in nine months of 2024, 49.3 percent of them with no cover at all.

A Domestic Violence Victim's Pre-Trial Statement Now Stands Even If They Refuse to Testify, Portugal's Supreme Court Has Ruled

Acordao do Supremo Tribunal de Justica n.º 6/2026, published on Friday, fixes case law: a court may weigh declaracoes para memoria futura taken before a judge during the investigation even when the victim later exercises the right to refuse to give evidence at trial.

Five Hundred Flights From Lisbon, Porto and Faro Sit Inside easyJet's October Strike, and the Crew Have Booked a Second One for the Week Before Christmas

Cabin crew voted 188 to nothing on Thursday to stop work from 2 to 6 October and again from 19 to 23 December. The union blames roster instability, unequal treatment against the pilots and pressure to fly overtime.

Portugal Throws Open More Than 400 Heritage Visits Until 27 September, From a Taxidermy Lab in Lisbon to a Beach Clean at Sagres

The European Heritage Days run to 27 September. Most activities are free, many open places that are normally closed, and this year's theme is heritage at risk. There is still a week of it left.

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