Airport border staff increase after massive delays in Lisbon // New laws to make smoking in bars almost impossible

Portuguese news in English on Saturday, June 4, 2022

By the numbers

Figures from 24/05/2022–30/05/2022. Source: DGS

Airport border staff increase after massive delays in Lisbon

Hundreds more border workers will be stationed at Portuguese airports and an electronic triage system introduced in an attempt to avoid delays in summer, Público reports. Tuesday’s announcement came after about 4500 international passengers were forced to wait more than four hours at passport control in Lisbon two days earlier thanks to an Immigration and Border Service (SEF) workforce union meeting in the morning arrivals peak. In all, there’ll be another 238 SEF and police officials in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Madeira, Porto Santo and São Miguel, in a gradual build up from this week until July 4. That should mean all the immigration desks are staffed during busy periods, in Lisbon at least. According to Público, the triage changes will involve some element of passengers being able to pre-register before going through immigration, but that’s unclear for now. 

New laws to make smoking in bars almost impossible

Starting next year, it will become almost impossible to smoke in Portuguese restaurants, bars and nightclubs, Público reports. The government has finally defined the requirements for venues to feature smoking rooms and they’re fairly restrictive. To qualify, venues must have more than 100sq m of client space, a ceiling of at least 3m and not use more than 20% of the space for smoking, but will also need to install and maintain extremely powerful ventilation systems. The head of a prominent Portuguese nightlife association said the rules were a covert way of banning smoking in these spaces, saying most bars were too small and nightclubs wouldn’t be able to afford the costs. The Portuguese Confederation for Smoking Prevention said smoking rooms should have been banned entirely.

Complaint of labour exploitation of Ukrainians in Portugal

Amnesty International has complained to several authorities after helping a Ukrainian family out of suspected labour exploitation in Portugal, Público reports. Having travelled for days on a bus without heating, in the early days of the war, the mother said she was put to work more than the legal 40 hours a week, shouted at by the Ukrainian woman who organised the bus trip and told she and her daughters would be kicked out of their house if she quit the job. AI said there were credible suspicions and strong evidence the family had been rescued from Ukraine with a view to eventual exploitative labour. Without referring to this case, the judicial police said they were investigating cases of sexual and labour exploitation and SEF said it had received 22 complains of possible people trafficking. The Working Conditions Authority, said it hadn’t been notified of any cases of workplace exploitation of Urkainians and public prosecutors said they couldn’t say if any cases were under investigation. 

Meanwhile in Campo Grande, where the parish has helped 221 Ukrainian refugees, a lack of Portuguese language courses is proving a large obstacle, Diário de Notícias reports. The European Union agreed to cut Russian oil imports by about 90 per cent in a harsh new punishment of the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press reports, in English.

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In brief

• Health authorities recommend isolation and sexual abstinence for monkeypox sufferers. The Directorate-General of health says suspected cases should call the SNS24 health hotline, and, if medical treatment is needed, cover their sores and wear a mask when leaving the house. (Público)

• Fuel prices to surge again. Petrol is next week expected to jump 14c/L and diesel 12c/L. (Jornal de Notícias)

• Government says planned four-day-week trials won't impact salaries. Several companies have shown interest in pilot projects set to include 100 businesses yet to be chosen. (Diário de Notícias)

On a lighter note

Forget the British royal family’s big weekend; Portugal’s crown jewels are finally on display, Diário de Notícias reports. They can be found in one of the largest vaults in the world behind two, five-tonne doors, in the new Museu do Tesouro Real (Royal Treasure/Crown Jewels Museum) in the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda (Ajuda National Palace). The vault has three levels, lots of security and contains about 22,000 precious stones — 18,000 of them diamonds — the solid gold crown and the royal throne.

Correction: Last week I said there were more than 48 million empty homes in Lisbon. The correct figure is 48,000.