Welcome to the Week em Breve, a wrap-up of important Portuguese news to keep you up to date and in the know.
Thousands gather for the Carnation Revolution parade in Lisbon
On Friday, Lisboetas came out on the streets to commemorate April 25, 1974, marking the end of the authoritarian right-wing Estado Novo regime.
This year, a small number of far-right demonstrators showed up at Largo de São Domingos in breach of a ban.
This led to clashes with police and the arrest of neo-Nazi Mario Machado as well as the leader of the far-right Ergue-Te group, Rui Fonseca e Castro, Reuters reports.
You can check out our photo coverage of the parade here and a history of 25 de Abril here.
Politicians respond to anti-immigrant tirade at Porto demonstration
A peaceful protest involving dozens of immigrants at the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (Agência para a Integração Migrações e Asilo – AIMA) in Porto last Wednesday was interrupted by a man shouting anti-immigration rhetoric and clashing with participants.
The action of the lone infiltrator was widely condemned by most politicians.
During a Council of Ministers’ briefing on the demonstration, António Leitão Amaro, the Minister of the Presidency, said:
“We respect freedom of opinion. Something different from freedom of opinion is extremism revealed in opinions, provocations between demonstrators, messages of hatred or intolerance, or political exploitation of these freedoms of expression,” Jornal de Notícias reports.
António Leitão Amaro said the government is listening to the concerns of immigrants but would not fall into extremes.
At a rally in Beja, National Coordinator of the Left Bloc Mariana Mortágua criticized the “policies of hate” against immigrants that are driving situations like that in Porto.
She said immigrants are pillars of Portugal and contribute the equivalent of almost half a million pensions through Social Security payments alone, Alentejo Ilustrado reports.
“They are not enemies just because they have a different skin color or because they come from another part of the world. They come to work, like we did, and in search of a better life,” Mortágua said, according to Alentejo Ilustrado.
Real estate funds paid no tax on 1.7 billion in profits
Francisco Louçã, former coordinator of the Left Bloc, claimed that “265 real estate funds made €1.7 billion in profits, contributed to the increase in rent prices, but did not pay a cent in taxes!”
Público fact-checked this and found it to be true: 265 real estate investment funds raised €1.743 million in three years, and, under the 2015 Tax Benefits Statute, paid no tax.
Rents also rose during this period, but it cannot be certain that real estate funds are to blame, the paper reports.
Investors in real estate funds are taxed when income is distributed or shares are sold.
Weed exports almost triple in 2024
Portugal exported 32,558 kilograms of cannabis in 2024, 172% more than the previous year, according to figures from the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products (Infarmed) provided to ECO.
This makes Portugal the largest marijuana exporter in Europe and the second largest in the world, behind Canada, according to the publication.
The nascent market in Portugal has grown rapidly since the cultivation of medicinal cannabis was legalized and regulated in February 2019.
The five biggest destinations for Portugal’s medicinal cannabis were Germany, Spain, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Domestically, there are only 11 medications containing cannabinoids, one of which is only available in hospitals, ECO reports.
Biggest increase in median house price since Q2 2022
Speaking of getting high, the median house price in the last quarter of 2024 was €1,870 per square meter, according to figures from the local Housing Price Statistics reported by Público.
This is a 15.5% increase compared with the same period in 2023, the paper reports. The top spots for pricey housing were Greater Lisbon, Madeira, the Algarve, and Porto.
The number of family houses sold also increased by 34.2%, going from 32,881 sales in the last quarter of 2023 to 44,115 during the same period in 2024, according to Público.
Portugal will ask EU for defence spending escape clause
Portugal became the first EU member state to announce its intention to activate the EU “fiscal escape clause” for higher defence spending, Reuters reports.
Last year, Portugal spent 1.55% of its GDP on defence, below NATO’s official target of 2%.
The “escape clause” will allow Portugal to increase its defence budget by up to 1.5% of its GDP each year for four years without any punishment imposed by the European Commission as is typical when government deficit rises above 3% of the GDP, Reuters reports.
This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes NATO allies to increase military spending, and defence spending rises across Europe in light of Russia’s continuing invastion of Ukraine.
