The Week em Breve Sept 15 to 21
Welcome to the Week em Breve, a wrap-up of important Portuguese news to keep you up to date and in the know.
Portugal joins the U.K., Canada and Australia in recognizing Palestine
As of Sunday, Portugal recognizes the state of Palestine, joining the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, who announced their recognition on the same day.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel told reporters in New York that “Portugal advocates the two-state solution as the only path to a just and lasting peace, one that promotes coexistence and peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine.”
More countries are expected to follow suit during the annual United Nations General Assembly that starts today in New York, in what’s seen as a largely, if not purely, symbolic gesture: a quarter of the 193 UN member states already recognized Palestine before Sunday, yet recognition remains anathema for the ruling government in Israel.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday before the announcements, called for a “fight” against the move, which he said would “endanger [Israel’s] existence,” according to The Times of Israel.
Addressing countries that recognized Palestine, Netanyahu later said in a video statement that they were “handing a huge reward to terror.”
“It will not happen,” the prime minister added, referring to recognition, according to The Times of Israel.
Chega’s Ventura announces run for President of Portugal, again
André Ventura, the former football pundit, novelist, and PhD in law holder who heads Portugal’s far-right Chega party, has announced that he is, after all, running for the office of President.
At a press conference announcing the run for the post — he was running for it this spring, until a week later he was not — Ventura said he tried to find another candidate to represent Chega in the presidential elections but could not, so the party leader “must act with what he has,” according to Público.
“These presidential elections were not my choice, they are not my desire, nor would they be my desire, but they are, at this moment, understand everyone now or not, the best way to lead the opposition in Portugal.”
Ventura has run for office eight times since 2019, including for European Parliament, the Portuguese legislation, the municipal elections for Moura, and the Portuguese presidency.
He won in five of those elections, according to Público.
Ventura came in third in Portugal’s 2021 presidential elections.
He also announced in early March that he was running in the 2026 presidential election, only to pull out just a few days later, saying at the time, “the context is different, and my first and greatest responsibility as party leader, and this will not change in the coming weeks, is to be the head of the list of Chega in the legislative elections,” according to Lusa (italics ours).
Those elections were a resounding success for Chega, which suddenly became the second biggest party in the legislature to the surprise of many critics and media personalities, but to no surprise to anyone who’s driven around rural Portugal in recent times (Chega’s posters are everywhere and have been for months, the other parties’ are not, for one thing).
Chega took 60 seats in the assembly in that election, putting it ahead of the Socialists’ 58, and on their way to the 90 still controlled by the main party, the center-right Democratic Alliance (Aliança Democrática).
Chega’s standing with the Portuguese appears to be getting better by the day.
A recent opinion poll found that Chega is leading in the polls for the Oct. 12 legislative election, with 26.8% of respondents supporting the party, beating the Democratic Alliance (25.9%), and the Socialist Party (23.6%) — although, to be fair, the poll’s margin of error is 4.1%.
And Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, leader of the PSD-CDS coalition — who in April said it was “impossible to govern with Chega,” in part because Ventura lacked “maturity and decency” — has warmed to Ventura’s party since then, telling RTP’s Antena 1 that Chega was “starting to show greater responsibility.”
Ventura’s visit to immigrant protest causes “tension”
A display of that responsibility took place on Wednesday, when Ventura took the opportunity to express his stance and get some media coverage during the immigrant demonstration in front of the Assembly. The rally was organized to protest changes to the nationality law and purported “illegalities” on the part of the Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA, Agência para a Integração Migrações e Asilo).
Ventura’s appearance at the protest, which had hundreds of participants, according to Sábado, caused “a lot of tension,” as CNN Portugal put it, posting a video of what took place.
The video has audio of increasingly angry chants of “racista” and “fascista” as well as some nervous-looking security types surrounding Ventura, although mostly he’s surrounded by reporters.
Immigrants and Portuguese sport
Público’s Barbara Reis did a thought experiment to find out what Portugal’s athletics would be without immigrants. In what she describes as her “quick accounting,” she focused on just 15 immigrants — and found that they’ve won Portugal 133 medals in international competitions.
“I didn’t even get to football,” she wrote.
Portugal to add 12,000 affordable rentals for middle-class families with EU support
The European Investment Bank is providing Portugal with €1.34 billion to build affordable housing or renovate existing stock, the Portuguese government said on Friday.
That is supposed to provide 12,000 affordable rentals for middle-class families, according to a statement from the government.
That would mean each unit would cost an average of less than €114,000.
Meanwhile, the latest data on real estate prices in Lisbon, this time from Portdata, show that home prices rose 21% from 2021 to 2024, hitting €3,826 per square meter.
It’s unclear how the affordable housing units will be allocated and what their rental price will be once they come on the market.
Under the agreement, however, municipalities now have until 2030 “to present housing solutions,” according to Lusa — presumably to obtain the funds to build the housing.
Orcas continue targeting sail boats off Portuguese coast
Orcas, also known as killer whales, appear to be getting more aggressive against sailing boats off the coast near Lisbon.
After an attack that sank a boat near Fonte da Telha beach earlier this month, and one near Cascais, in which four people had to be rescued, orcas went after a boat near Costa da Caparica, where another four people were rescued by Portugal’s Coastal and Border Control Unit, according to the Independent.
None of the attacks have resulted in any injuries to the crew or passengers.
