Latest news and stories about legal reforms in government in Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal for expats and residents.
The Minister of Labour meets again today with the UGT and the four business confederations regarding changes to labour law, following the appeal made by the President of the Republic after the 'rupture' announced by the employers.
The last meeting ended without an agreement and with mutual accusations of intransigence.
Update: Government schedules fresh labour law talks for Monday
Minister of Labour Rosário Palma Ramalho has summoned the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (União Geral de Trabalhadores or UGT) and business leaders to a meeting on Monday, March 16. The government aims to exhaust all possibilities for an agreement rather than prolonging the discussion indefinitely.
Rosário Maria Ribeiro da Costa Palma Ramalho is a distinguished labor law academic who was appointed Minister of Labour in the XXV Constitutional Government under Luís Montenegro. She is one of Portugal's leading experts on employment law, having authored major textbooks and legal commentaries on the Portuguese Labour Code.
As minister, she leads negotiations with trade unions (CGTP, UGT) and employer confederations on labor reform, including changes to dismissal rules, working time flexibility, and collective bargaining. Her academic background gives her unusual technical authority in a portfolio that is typically politically charged.
The General Union of Workers (UGT – União Geral de Trabalhadores) is one of Portugal’s two main national trade union confederations. Founded in Lisbon on 28 October 1978, it was created as a social‑democratic alternative to the more communist‑aligned CGTP after the 1974 Revolution, grouping unions close to the Socialist Party and moderate centre‑right currents.
UGT represents around 400,000 workers and is affiliated to the European Trade Union Confederation and International Trade Union Confederation, giving Portuguese labour a voice at EU and global level. Its principles stress union independence from the state, employers, churches and parties, internal democracy and active worker participation.
Historically, UGT’s hallmark has been “propositive” social dialogue: it is usually more willing than CGTP to sign tripartite agreements on wages, labour law and social policy with governments and employers, shaping minimum wage increases, working‑time rules and social protection reforms. This makes UGT a key centrist actor in Portugal’s industrial relations, often mediating between left and right while defending collective bargaining and incremental improvements to labour rights.
Psychologist Juliana Ribeiro de Souza Revoredo is researching the emotional and professional impact on Brazilian lawyers following the sudden termination of the reciprocity agreement between the Brazilian and Portuguese Bar Associations in 2023.
Joom CEO Ilya Shirokov warns that proposed changes to Portugal's nationality law create market uncertainty and hinder the recruitment of international talent, noting that the company has already lost potential candidates to Germany.
The Portuguese government, UGT, and four business confederations are meeting to negotiate a decisive agreement on new labour law reforms.
The new President took office in Belém, emphasizing the need for national stability while highlighting critical challenges including an ageing population, healthcare and housing deficits, and a slow judicial system.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Lisbon and Porto to protest against the government's proposed changes to the labour law, known as the 'Work XXI' reform. Led by the CGTP union, the protests highlighted concerns that the reforms would negatively impact workers' rights. CGTP's Secretary-General, Tiago Oliveira, called for the government to withdraw the labour package, emphasizing its detrimental effects on the workforce.
Moedas has secured an absolute majority with former Chega members, raising questions about the implications for Lisbon's political landscape and whether this shift marks the end of certain political red lines.
Público revisits the naturalisation of Roman Abramovich, noting that five years later, it remains unexplained. The newspaper recalls that the Russian billionaire became a Portuguese citizen in just two and a half months in 2021, a case that exposed state control failures and led to a revision of the law. Expresso reports that 20 PSP officers were questioned regarding the police torture case at the Rato station in Lisbon, with only one testifying against colleagues, a testimony that proved crucial to the investigation. Jornal de Notícias states that storms have increased dangers for bathers ahead of the bathing season starting Friday, as bad weather has altered the Portuguese coastline, changing deep spots, steep slopes, whirlpools, and rip currents, which are the leading cause of drowning in Portugal. Correio da Manhã highlights that it took the justice system two years to find wiretaps of a conversation between António Costa and Lacerda Machado regarding the Sines data centre, only discovered in October 2025. Diário de Notícias reports that two-thirds of the major measures in the new PTRR were already included in the State Budget. Negócios notes that 50 years after the Agrarian Reform, there is still land to be returned.
The author of Football Leaks has been in legal battles since 2019 for the same crimes. Judges state he was the target of persecution by the judicial system.
The document containing the suggestions was delivered this Tuesday to Amadeu Guerra at the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Football Leaks creator Rui Pinto was acquitted this Wednesday, April 29, of the 241 crimes he was accused of, with the judge criticising the fact that he had been subjected to two consecutive trials for the same facts. The Public Prosecutor's indictment was deemed “invalid” by the panel of judges and, as such, “unfounded”, in a case where the defendant was allegedly treated “in three different ways” without his “dignity as a human being” being respected. Speaking to DN, Francisco Teixeira da Mota, Rui Pinto's lawyer, considers this an acquittal “that honours the Portuguese justice system”, pointing to the Public Prosecutor's Office. “It is also,” he adds, “a decision that proved us right in the complaint we made, over time, regarding the Public Prosecutor's perverse strategy of seeking to perpetuate the judicial persecution of Rui Pinto”. In January, at the opening of this case, Rui Pinto's lawyers expressed “repudiation for the Public Prosecutor's attitude”, arguing that he had already been tried and convicted for the same crimes. In this second case, Rui Pinto faced 201 counts of qualified illegitimate access, 23 counts of aggravated violation of correspondence, and 18 counts of computer damage. In addition to Benfica, other figures and institutions targeted included other clubs, the League, companies, law firms, judges, prosecutors, the Tax Authority, and the National Internal Security Network. Rui Pinto was convicted in the 'Football Leaks' case in September 2023 by the Lisbon Central Criminal Court to a four-year suspended prison sentence for attempted extortion, aggravated violation of correspondence, and illegitimate access. (Updating) Court maintains four-year suspended sentence for Rui Pinto, but waives payment of compensation.
According to Nuno Cunha Rodrigues, there are 800 million euros in fines related to 22 cases at risk of expiring, 16 of which have led to requests for preliminary rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Henrique Machado, Society editor at TVI and CNN Portugal, provides further details on the journalistic investigation that offers an 'X-ray' of Operation Influencer.
Parliament has given the green light to a request to hear the Prosecutor General of the Republic with “urgency” regarding a report on alleged chaos at the DCIAP
Socialists align with the IL's request to hear Amadeu Guerra in parliament. The report points to serious flaws at the DCIAP: delays, evidence preservation issues, and a lack of resources.
The active corruption crimes in Operation Marquês may be about to reach their statute of limitations.
The renewal of the Code of Criminal Procedure has one major goal: to speed up justice. To this end, the Public Prosecutor's working group wants to fine those who engage in delaying tactics and promote pre-trial agreements.
The Public Prosecutor's Office denied this Tuesday any forecast for concluding the investigation into Operation 'Influencer' by 2027, admitting that the delay in the process 'is not ideal', but guaranteeing that it will not 'rush' into 'premature decisions'. 'We will not rush into any type of decision, in any direction, due to pressure from public opinion. We are...'
António Costa commented that he was only heard two years ago in the Operation Influencer case of his own volition and highlighted that he is unaware of what has happened since that time.
The former prime minister declined to comment this Tuesday on reports regarding wiretaps from the Operation Influencer case, which were reported today, concerning Costa and Diogo Lacerda Machado.
Analysis of the Influencer case file reveals that the Public Prosecutor's Office only proceeded to investigate potential financial kickbacks months after the search and arrest operation that marked the case.
The Union of Guards association accuses Lieutenant-General Rui Veloso and has filed a report with the Ministry of Internal Administration and the IGAI.
Sócrates says he does not trust the court-appointed lawyer, but has not yet named another.
Fernando Braamcamp was president of the Areeiro Parish Council until February 2025, when he requested a suspension of his mandate after being accused of nearly 40 crimes in the Tutti Frutti case.
Double standards in the PS regarding Aguiar-Branco, an audit that exposes the disaster in the management of the DCIAP, and the way Trump uses a shooting to justify a 200 million euro project.
Daniel Adrião was expelled for running in the local elections on an independent list for a parish in Lisbon, opposing the PS candidate.
At the end of 2024, the DCIAP still lacked regulations and was not using the Citius system to process cases. The delays are sometimes absurd: evidence that took five months to travel from Madeira to Lisbon, three years to digitise documents, and two years to obtain laboratory results.
The Public Prosecution Service (MP) is operating in a state of “structural breakdown,” with a shortage of 160 prosecutors across the country, mostly in the first instance courts, thousands of cases assigned to each magistrate, and stalled proceedings, according to a union survey released today.
All defendants in the Saco Azul case, including former Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira, were acquitted this Thursday, with the court citing doubts regarding the prosecution's case. The court noted that only a forensic technical expert report could determine who did what, who accessed the system, and what IT issues were created.
This was the method found by Helena Susano to unblock the payment of fees to two court-appointed lawyers who are representing two companies in the trial.
