Lisboa, Portugal
Latest news and stories from Cascais.
A 90-year-old woman was reportedly denied a wheelchair at the Cascais Hospital emergency department, forcing a private transport driver to carry her into the facility. The incident has sparked public concern regarding patient care standards at the hospital.
Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Miguel Pinto Luz stated that all construction permits issued during his time as deputy mayor of Cascais were legal and transparent. This follows an investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office into the construction of a hotel and 120 apartments that allegedly violate the Municipal Master Plan (Plano Diretor Municipal or PDM).
Miguel Pinto Luz is Portugal's Minister of Infrastructure. On Feb 24, 2026 he told journalists in Viseu that works on the A1 motorway in the Coimbra area would be fully completed and traffic restored to four lanes by the end of that week.
The Public Prosecutor's Office has requested the immediate suspension of construction for a new Hilton hotel and over 100 apartments in the Cascais municipality. Authorities are also seeking the demolition of nearly completed structures and the nullification of permits authorized by current Minister of Infrastructure Miguel Pinto Luz during his previous tenure as vice-president of the Cascais City Council. The legal challenge centers on the sale of a 800-square-meter plot of land for 313,000 euros.
Miguel Pinto Luz is Portugal's Minister of Infrastructure. On Feb 24, 2026 he told journalists in Viseu that works on the A1 motorway in the Coimbra area would be fully completed and traffic restored to four lanes by the end of that week.
The Tax Authority (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira or AT) has clarified that homeowners who rent out their primary residence before selling it may lose their exemption from personal income tax (Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares or IRS) on capital gains. Even if the property remains the owner's registered tax address, the act of placing it on the rental market can disqualify the tax benefit.
The IRS withholding tables (tabelas de retenção na fonte) are government-published schedules that determine how much personal income tax (Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares — IRS) employers must deduct from each paycheck. They take into account gross pay, marital status, number of dependents, and disability status.
The tables are updated annually (and sometimes mid-year when budgets change), directly affecting monthly take-home pay. When tables are revised downward, workers see more in their pay packet; when raised, less. Any difference between amounts withheld and the actual tax owed is settled when the annual IRS return (Modelo 3) is filed, typically between April and June.
Employees and pensioners should check the current tables — published by the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (AT) — whenever they change, as the impact on net income can be significant.
Portugal has enacted a new Nationality Law that extends the residency requirement for naturalization to ten years for most foreign nationals. Citizens from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa or CPLP) now face a seven-year wait, and the Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo (AIMA) is preparing new forms to manage family reunification requests under these stricter rules.
Temporary residence is a limited residence permit that allows non‑EU nationals to live in Portugal for a set period (commonly one year, renewable) for study, work or other reasons. The Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo (AIMA) launching an online form means eligible students who also work can apply or regularise their status more easily through AIMA’s process rather than only via consular services.
The PSD has handed municipal portfolios to Chega in Cascais, prompting the Socialist Party (PS) to return its own portfolios in protest, Expresso reports. The change follows earlier power‑sharing arrangements and transfers responsibility for areas including the local economy, employment and fund management to councillors aligned with Chega. The swap has already prompted local political turbulence and questions about service continuity. Cascais residents and those with business or planning interests in the municipality should watch for changes to local procedures and contacts.
Chega ("Enough") is a Portuguese far-right populist party founded in 2019 by André Ventura. It positions itself as an anti-establishment movement against what it calls a "rotten and corrupt system" of PS-PSD dominance. The party surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest force with 60 seats. Chega's core platform emphasizes strict immigration control—ending automatic CPLP residency, deporting non-independent immigrants, implementing job-market quotas, and requiring five-year social security contributions before benefit access. It advocates radical constitutional reform, including reducing parliament to 100 members, abolishing the prime minister position for a presidential system, and dismantling public healthcare. Law-and-order policies include life imprisonment and chemical castration proposals.
The party is defined by inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric, with Ventura convicted multiple times for discrimination. Chega maintains international alignments with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal, and Matteo Salvini. Mainstream Portuguese parties, including Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's government, have imposed a cordon sanitaire, refusing coalition with Chega despite its parliamentary strength.
