Welcome to the Week em Breve, a wrap-up of important Portuguese news to keep you up to date and in the know.
Presidential elections announced for January
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has scheduled the presidential elections for January 18, 2026.
The date was chosen to avoid candidacy deadlines clashing with Christmas and, in the case of a secondary runoff election, Carnival.
A candidate must receive over 50% of the votes for the election to be valid, otherwise a runoff election must take place within 20 days, which in this case would fall on February 8, 2026.
A runoff is between the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round.
Candidates, who must be “Portuguese citizen[s] by birth” and over 35 years of age, must now gather 7,500 signatures of support and submit them to the Constitutional Court, which certifies if they can appear on the ballot.
Those who have already indicated their intention to run, according to RTP, include two candidates who’ve so far dominated the news cycle — Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, former chief of the Naval Staff, as well as André Ventura, a former lawyer and TV pundit who’s currently the leader of the far-right Chega party — as well as António Filipe, João Cotrim de Figueiredo, Catarina Martins, Luís Marques Mendes, Jorge Pinto and António José Seguro.
Government prepares immigrant “return law”
The government plans to seek public input this month on a proposal to remove “illegal immigrants” from Portugal with “greater speed and efficiency,” Público reports.
António Leitão Amaro, minister of the Presidency of Portugal, made the announcement during a heated discussion in which he clashed with the Chega party over their baseless claims connecting immigrants with crime.
“Your link between crime and immigration is false,” he said, according to Público.
Loss of citizenship introduced as punishment
Last Tuesday, October 28, Parliament approved a law that could strip people of Portuguese nationality for crimes punishable with four or more years in prison, Sic Notícias reports.
The punishment can be doled out on those who still hold another nationality and commit a crime within 10 years of getting Portuguese citizenship.
A judge would have to actively impose the punishment on top of any other sentence, meaning a person will not automatically lose citizenship if convicted.
This change to the penal code was original part of the new Nationality Law, but was separated out over fears that it may be unconstitutional.
The change was voted through with 157 in favor and 64 against, with “the parliamentary left” voting against, according to Sic Notícias.
Nationality Law voted through
Changes to the Nationality Law were approved Oct. 28 with a vote returning 157 in favor and 64 against, the Portugal News reports.
The new rules increase the length of residency before naturalisation to seven years for citizens of Portuguese-speaking countries and the European Union and 10 years for everyone else.
It also introduces a citizenship test to ensure applicants “sufficiently know the Portuguese language and culture, history, and national symbols,” the Portugal News reports.
There will also be a condition for applicants to have “the capacity to ensure their subsistence” at the time of their application, and birth citizenship will only be granted to children who have at least one parent that has legally resided in Portugal for at least five years.
It also includes an amendment from Chega that will strip citizenship from those who obtained it “through manifestly fraudulent means,” according to the publication.
New bank, old problems
Novo Banco was raided last week as part of an investigation into suspected corruption, Reuters reports.
The bank, now fourth-largest in Portugal, was created in 2014 to retain the healthy assets of Banco Espírito Santo upon its collapse.
In the decade since, Novo Banco has offloaded numerous assets as part of its restructuring, and the alleged corruption is linked to the sale of those assets.
Novo Banco is currently being acquired by the French bank Groupe BPCE, and the latest searches were carried out during a handover ceremony in the Ministry of Finance, according to Público.
This forced Novo Banco chief executive Mark Bourke to “leave at a brisk pace” while people were still applauding, with the other participants leaving soon after, according to Público.
The local branch of consulting giant KPMG was also searched, but they are not the focus of the investigation.
The next train leaves in… five years
It’s been five years since Lisbon and Madrid were connected by train, and it will be another five before they are again, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Infrastructure.
Portugal and Spain have defined “concrete actions” that will establish rail links between the two capitals by 2030, with an initial travel time of five hours, dropping to around three hours by 2034.
“With concrete investments, defined deadlines and coordination between the two countries, we are ensuring that high-speed rail transport becomes a reality serving the people, the economy and territorial cohesion,” said Miguel Pinto Luz, minister of Infrastructure and Housing, in the statement.
The plan includes finishing the high-speed rail line between Évora and Caia this year, for operation in 2026; construction of a second line between Poceirão and Bombel by 2029; and assessing a Lisbon-Évora line, including a possible third bridge over the Tejo, by 2027.
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