Bloco de Esquerda (Left Bloc), one of the Portuguese left-wing political parties, has proposed a series of measures aimed at fighting the current housing crisis.

According to Mariana Mortágua, the leader of the party, the housing crisis has become a ‘social pandemic’. The current prices are way above Portuguese wages, and citizens are being left with little to no option.

For that reason, the political party is calling for a ban on selling houses to non-residents, (except to emigrants), for effective rent control, and for a reduction of banks’ interest rates. A similar measure has been adopted in Canada.

In an interview, Mortágua makes it clear that this is not “a ban on sales to foreigners”. “Foreigners can buy a house in Portugal as long as they reside in Portugal”.

Moreover, under the proposed law, there are exceptions such as “any person who has a spouse or is in a de facto union with someone who lives in Portugal, a refugee who lives in Portugal and wants to find a home, and, obviously, anyone who has a residence visa in Portugal”.

These measures, which were defined by the party leader as very urgent, intend to help those who cannot afford to leave their parents’ house, those desperate for a house suitable for their family, those facing eviction, and those who cannot pay their mortgages, and for those who are left with nothing after paying their rent.

The goal is to offer some relief to Portuguese citizens, and hopefully dissuade many from emigrating. According to the party, this can be done by providing them with solutions that enable a sustainable living situation.

A small Portuguese town was flooded with millions of liters of red wine after the explosion of two distillery tanks.

The streets of São Lourenço do Bairro, a town located in the center-north of Portugal, were literally painted red on Sunday. There are videos circulating online showing the red torrent flowing through the town.

The amount of wine spilled (2.2 million liters) was almost enough to fill an Olympic pool (2.5 million liters). Levira Distillery, the wine company that owned the tanks, posted a statement on Facebook saying it “deeply regrets the incident”, and that it takes “full responsibility” for it, and for everything associated with it. Authorities are investigating the causes.

For precaution, the responsible fire department diverted the wine, which was gushing downhill, to stop it from contaminating the nearby river. However, because of that, the red stream flowed into a nearby field. As a result, the wine-soaked soil has been taken to a special treatment plant to avoid future problems.

Given the peculiarity of the incident and the unique images it produced, São Lourenço do Bairro and Levira Distillery have been mentioned internationally.

The streets of Levira, Portugal were flooded with red wine after a distillery’s 2.2 million liter tanks burst.

pic.twitter.com/kwEPNKRjVu

— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 11, 2023

This week, the Portuguese Government announced two measures to increase the purchasing power of Portuguese citizens.

First, on Wednesday, the Portuguese Prime Minister announced, among other things, that for each year spent working in Portugal, the Government will return the proportional tuition fees that were paid by the university student.

This measure targets young people. It was designed as an incentive for new graduates to stay in the country, as well as a mechanism to provide them with more purchasing power when they finish their studies and start working. Note that this measure only entails public universities. Tuition fees of private universities are not included.

Second, on Thursday, the Government approved an extension of the temporary Value-Added Tax (VAT) exemption for some food products until the end of the year.

This measure, which came into effect in April this year, exempts 46 food products from VAT. The products were carefully selected given the guidelines for healthy eating provided by the Ministry of Health.

The Government assessed the five previous months and concluded that extending the measure was an effective way of dealing with inflation and providing some relief to Portuguese citizens.

The VAT zero measure applies to:

• Bread 
• Potato
• Pasta Rice

Dairy

• Cow Milk
• Yogurt
• Cheese

Fruits

• Apple
• Banana
• Orange
• Pears
• Melon

Vegetables

• Red beans
• Black-eyed beans
• Chickpeas
• Onion
• Tomato
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Carrot
• Courgette
• Leek
• Pumpkin
• Sprouts
• Portuguese Cabbage
• Spinach
• Turnip
• Peas

Meat and Fish

• Pig
• Chicken
• Turkey
• Cow
• Codfish
• Sardine
• Pescada
• Mackerel
• Dourada
• Cavala

Fats and Oils

• Olive Oil
• Vegetable Oils
• Butter

Other Products

• Canned tuna
• Chicken eggs
• Plant base yogurt and milk
• Gluten-free products for celiacs

In less than twenty-four hours, the newly installed speed traps caught 6,000 drivers going over the speed limit.

There are 37 new speed traps operating throughout the country since the beginning of the month. Of the 37, 12 are able to record the average speed. This technology is new in Portugal.

Contrary to other speed traps, which take note of the speed in one specific location, at one point in time, these assess the time a vehicle spends going from point A to point B and calculate the average speed. 

By the end of September 1st, 6,000 drivers had already been caught. The tickets have not been processed yet, but the authorities estimate that if each driver pays the minimum amount possible (60 euros), the total revenue for the state will be around 360,000 euros.

However, considering that the amount due depends on how much above the speed limit the driver was, it could be more than that. The 37 new speed traps are spread across the country, from north to south on highways, national, and complementary roads. Most were placed along national roads, in specific locations, but the new technology was specifically chosen for the main highways.

If you want to know where the speed traps are located, take a look here.

Almost 50,000 students got into university in Portugal. However, there are 38 degrees available that no one wants to apply to at the moment. 

This year’s first phase of the National Contest to Access Higher Education (Concurso Nacional de Acesso ao Ensino Superior – CNAES) had almost fifty thousand placements. The number is slightly lower than last year’s, but it represents 84% of the total number of applications. The remaining 16% will have to wait for the second phase.

Most of the 1,109 degrees available are completely full. There are only 305 degrees with spots available, of which 38 are completely empty.

Interestingly, one of the most wanted areas is also the one that no one wants. Most of the degrees without any application are connected to engineering. However, the ones that everyone wants are also connected to the field. The degree with the highest average entry GPA is Aerospatial Engineering.

Apart from the above mentioned, Medicine, Law, Architecture, and International Relations degrees are very popular. The average entry GPA for these degrees in the best Universities is above 18/20.

The spots that are still available will be disputed by the remaining 16% of the applicants. If there are any spots available after the second phase, there will be a third. The goal is that every degree is full, and every student is placed.

The Portuguese President of the Republic will enact the new version of the drug law after it has been validated by the Portuguese Constitutional Court.

After the decree was approved by the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic more than one month ago, the President decided to send it to the Constitutional Court.

According to him, the autonomous regions (in this case, Madeira) were not properly taken into account, and that could cause the proposal to be unconstitutional.

According to the court’s decision, the decree is not unconstitutional. The validation by the Constitutional Court means that the law will have to be enacted by the President, and come into effect.

What’s the new Portuguese drug law 2023?

This new version of the drug law introduces two big changes. First, it extends decriminalization to synthetic drugs. Second, it removes the possession limit that was acceptable for consumption.

These changes are supposed to guarantee the effectiveness of the drug law within the new drug paradigm, and at providing a better basis for distinguishing between users and traffickers.

However, some experts argue that this version will create a ‘gray area’ that will be difficult for the authorities. They believe that this new law creates a precedent that will contribute to the worsening of the current state of the country when it comes to drugs. Instead of better defining the line that helps distinguish users from traffickers, the new version of the law blurs it. According to them, both the police force, and the Portuguese courts will have a hard time.