Welcome to the Week em Breve, a wrap-up of important Portuguese news to keep you up to date and in the know.
National Health Service director resigns amid accusations of contract fraud
António Gandra D’Almeida, a former military physician who has served as director of the National Health Service (Serviço Nacional de Saúde – SNS) for less than a year, resigned from his position on Friday. An investigation carried out by the SIC news agency published earlier that day revealed that Gandra D’Almeida had held contracts considered “incompatible” under law with multiple hospitals while he served as director of the northern delegation of the National Institute of Medical Emergency (Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica – INEM) from 2021 until his appointment as head of the SNS last May. Gandra D’Almeida reportedly collected over €200,000 from these fraudulent contracts, employed as a station doctor in two Algarve emergency rooms — one in Faro and another in Portimão — all while leading INEM operations in the north of Portugal.
French NGO files complaint against Portugal, Spain, France for illegal fishing
Portugal — along with Spain and France — is facing a complaint filed with the European Commission over allegedly failing to prevent fishing fleets under its control from operating in protected waters. The complaint was filed by Bloom Association, a French climate non-profit, following the release of a study conducted by Bloom in conjunction with the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) and the Marine Conservation Institute (MCI). After monitoring fishing activity along the Iberian coast and as far north as the Celtic Seas west of Ireland for over a year, the study recorded more than 400 cases of illegal fishing, amounting to around 3,500 hours of fishing. In these protected areas, classified as vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), the legal number of fishing hours is exactly zero. According to the report, 95% of these hours are attributable to only 33 semi-industrial “bottom trawler” fishing boats. Of these 33, three particular trawlers, all Portuguese, accounted for 55% of the reported illegal fishing hours.
PSP demands video surveillance in Martim Moniz
Following recent police actions, protests, and reports of violence around Martim Moniz, the Public Security Police (Polícia de Segurança Pública – PSP) said it wants cameras to be placed around the neighborhood. A project to install surveillance cameras around the city, approved in 2019, is already underway, but did not originally include Martim Moniz in the list of locations. While the PSP is pushing for Martim Moniz to be added to the project, Lisbon City Council will have final approval.
Immigrants contribute 17% of Social Security
The European Commission reported on Thursday that foreigners working in Portugal provide Segurança Social with 17% of the total funds needed for the country’s pensions and retirements. The report, citing data provided by the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security (Ministério do Trabalho, Solidariedade e Segurança Social – MTSS), reveals that €15.8 billion were distributed by Segurança Social in 2023, €2.7 billion of which came from foreign workers.
Top tourism trends for 2025
The top-10 list of projected trends in tourism for 2025 — according to the Institute for Planning and Tourism Development (Instituto de Planeamento e Desenvolvimento do Turismo – IPDT) — is predictably maddening. In first place are hyper-personalized experiences, unique to each traveler or group, that “align almost entirely with their motivations, points of view and lifestyle,” as the ECO news agency puts it. The second trend is, of course, an emphasis on authenticity: the enduring tourist impulse to go off the beaten path and have a real experience. In this quest for authenticity, the IPDT reports that “less exploited and massified sites, such as independent art galleries, neighborhood markets or areas where authenticity still predominates, will become the new protagonists of cultural travel.” How tourist experiences will be able to claim authenticity while being meticulously tailored to the particular beliefs and preferences of each traveler remains to be seen.
