SEF to be gone within six months // Families fight to stop demolition of homes in self-built neighbourhood
Portuguese news in English on Monday, April 10, 2023.
SEF to be gone within six months
More than two years after it was first announced, the dismantling of the Immigration and Border Service (SEF) and the introduction of its replacement have been approved by the Council of Ministers, Público reports. The agency will be shut down within six months once its law enforcement responsibilities are transferred to various police forces and its administrative roles are taken over by the newly created Agency for Minorities, Migration and Asylum. Parliament Affairs Minister Ana Catarina Mendes said it was a more humane, supportive and agile vision for the reception of immigrants in the country. She said the move “definitively” separated policing and immigration policies from each other. Reuters notes, in English, that the extinction comes on the back of a series of scandals and that migrant advocacy groups have voiced concerns about other police forces, who’ve previously been accused of racist abuse, monitoring the borders.
Families fight to stop demolition of homes in self-built neighbourhood
More than a dozen families whose homes are set for demolition in a self-built neighbourhood south of Lisbon have been left out of the plan to resettle the residents, Al Jazeera reports, in English. More than 60 families were told Almada council would be knocking down their homes in the suburb of Segundo Torrão, where about 2500 people live close to upmarket São João da Caparica, just across the river from Lisbon. Some homes have already been knocked down but a lawyer fighting on behalf of the residents to stop the plan says it is “completely illegal” and has left some on the brink of homelessness.
The councils were new Alojamento Local licences will be suspended
More details have emerged about the government’s plans to fight the housing crisis, including a suspension of new tourist accommodation (Alojamento Local) licences. Público has created a map of the country showing all the councils where new licences will no longer be issued. Following the announcement of the end of the controversial golden visas, new figures appear to show Lisbon’s exclusion from the scheme had little effect on foreign interest in real estate, Dinheiro Vivo reports. Last year was the second biggest year ever for foreign investment, clocking in at €894 million. The large councils of greater Lisbon and Porto have also been buying but at a much lower rate, spending €29 million on 69 apartments and buildings since 2016 using a tool designed to address housing shortages, Dinheiro Vivo reports.
Revelations from parliamentary inquiry into TAP
The highly publicised parliamentary committee of inquiry into TAP reconvened on Tuesday, generating a slew of headlines. Prominent among those was the revelation, as Público reports, that former TAP CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener was urged to change the day of a commercial flight from Angola for the convenience of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. According to an email read by an opposition MP, then-Secretary of State for Infrastructure Hugo Mendes said the president was “our main political ally but could turn into our worst nightmare”. Ourmières-Widener said the flight was not changed after she learned the request had not come “directly” from Marcelo. It was also revealed the former CEO met with members of the government the day before her final parliamentary hearing. While she said she didn’t remember pre-organising any questions or answers for the following day, the Liberal Initiative MP questioning her described the situation as unethical due to “promiscuity” between the person being scrutinised and those meant to be scrutinising her. The government has since defended the meeting and denied statements made by various ministers about it were contradictory, Lusa reports.
In brief
President rejects opposition calls to dissolve the parliament. The president had messages for both the opposition and the government but showed no interest in stepping in after a series of crises. (Público)
VAT at 0% starts on April 18: Tofu, mushrooms and lentils off the list. Supermarkets will have to comply with the exemption from the first day, with no grace period. (Público)
How will we become a gigabit society in four years? The government says it’s waiting on an OK from the European Commission to put €300 million on getting fibre-optic connections to poorly served regions, along with a 5G expansion and undersea cables. (Dinheiro Vivo)
End of phone line to report church sexual abuse leaves victims without direction. Members of the now-disbanded panel to investigate the abuse are concerned victims have been left with help or support. (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
A community orchestra made up of people with Parkinson’s disease has won a national award for best clinical research project, Lusa reports. Braga Hospital said the results of its Parkinsound project “suggest” participation in the orchestra has advantages for sufferers. It said the orchestra group had a “significant improvement” compared to the control group. It was a very small study — 22 patients took part in 15 practice sessions and a final concert — and the hospital now wants to expand the research to more people and a longer timeframe.