Welcome to the Week em Breve, a wrap-up of important Portuguese news to keep you up to date and in the know.
This week in Portugal: Healthcare for Some, Savings for a Few, and a New “15-Minute City” for a Few More
A Chega-sponsored amendment to Portugal’s Basic Health Law, which aims to restrict the use of the public health system for foreigners without legal residence, was passed on December 19. Less than a week later, on December 23, 840 public health professionals, including physicians, nurses, social workers, signed an open letter denouncing the new amendment and professed to ignoring its measures. As reported by Observador, the letter’s signatories claim that such discriminatory laws are at odds with the ethical and moral standards of their professions, and “civil disobedience” in the form of providing care to all who seek it is therefore justified.
Breaking News: Lots of Money Held by Few People
A new study conducted by Banco de Portugal has found that — you might want to sit down for this — Portugal has a wealth gap problem. According to the study, more than 55% of household savings is held by the wealthiest 20% of families in Portugal. Other profound findings include the fact that rates of savings increase with salaries, and the highest rates of savings occur among the oldest.
Build, Build, Build! Big Plans for Riverside Industrial Area
Two thousand new homes, 120,000 square meters of green space, and 3,000 new jobs. These are the benefits promised to be gleaned from Fábrica de Gás da Matinha, a long-derelict industrial center south of Parque das Nações that was officially auctioned off for development by the Lisbon City Council on December 20, according to Idealista. The project, awarded to Portuguese development giant VIC Properties and expected to cost around €2 billion, aims to transform the 30 hectares of forgotten Marvila riverfront property into a modern, energy-efficient “15-minute city,” where every amenity is easily accessible on foot. All of this sounds great, but we’ll wait to see the housing costs before we start packing our bags.
Segurança Social Clarifies NISS Requirements After the End of Expressions of Interest
Obtaining residency in Portugal has always been a headache, but the rules of the game have changed drastically over the course of this year. This past June, the government announced that it would issue no more Expressions of Interest — a once-indispensable document given to individuals who enter Portugal as tourists and wish to remain in the country to live and work as they apply for residency. Since the announcement, it has become particularly unclear how unregularized immigrants are expected to obtain a social security number (NISS), a prerequisite of which is an employment contract, when a NISS number has also historically been required in order to obtain legal employment.
After receiving numerous formal complaints from immigrant support associations, Segurança Social has finally provided some clarity on the matter, as reported by Publico. In a public letter posted on its website, Segurança Social asserts that while an employment contract is indeed a prerequisite for obtaining a NISS number, a NISS number is not, in fact, a requirement for employment. According to the letter, employers in Portugal are fully permitted to hire unregularized foreign residents but must update the worker’s employment information after the individual has acquired their NISS number. So if an employer tries to say otherwise, they are either lying or uninformed. Good luck to everyone seeking residency in 2025.
Pingo Doce Picks and Chooses Which Workers Get Christmas Bonus
With Christmas time comes gift-giving and generosity, from friends, family, and sometimes, even employers. Pingo Doce, one of the largest grocery chains in Portugal, joined in on the holiday cheer by handing out €350 Christmas bonuses to around 27,000 of their employees across the country. That’s a lot of checks for a lot of people, but it doesn’t account for all of the chain’s more than 30,000 employees. As reported by Jornal de Notícias, the Trade Workers, Offices and Services Union of Portugal (CESP) claims that thousands of Pingo Doce workers were excluded from the Christmas bonus program for arbitrary, or even discriminatory, reasons. The bonuses were in fact granted to those with an “alignment with the values of Jerónimo Martins [the parent company of Pingo Doce],” and many workers were excluded because of union membership, participation in strikes, or for demanding more flexible schedules, according to the statement. Pingo Doce has not revealed its criteria at this time.
Lisbon Metro Open Late for NYE
Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and the city is set to implode with all the pent-up energy of another great (read: horrific) turn around the sun. As always, there will be simply too many things to do in too many places all at once, but one thing we won’t have to worry about is late-night transport. All of the Lisbon Metro lines will be open until 3:00 AM Wednesday morning, allowing plenty of time to dance and drink and cry our way into 2025 without having to dedicate two and a half precious hours of the night towards fighting for a taxi back home or to the next party.
Happy New Year everyone, we’ll see you on the other side!
