The police officer who shot dead a father during an arrest in Lisbon has been handed a suspended sentence for homicide with eventual intent and excessive force, Público reports. While he won’t be jailed, Bruno Pinto’s suspended sentence lasts for three and a half years and he will have to pay the family of Odair Moniz €90,000, and €220 a month until the immigrant from Cape Verde’s youngest son becomes an adult. The judge also extinguished his suspension from the Public Security Police (PSP), meaning it will be up to an internal inquiry to determine any punishment.

In a judgment handed down on Monday, judge Ana Sequeira found Pinto acted in legitimate defence against Moniz’s resistance and aggression but his use of a firearm was excessive. Pinto justified his decision by saying he’d seen a knife but neither witnesses nor images backed that up during the trial. It was found to be proven that the cook did not wield a knife but Pinto’s testimony was considered sincere except for on that point. Pinto was found to have acted “in the exercise of his duties” as a police officer and without prejudice during the arrest over an alleged driving violation in the migrant-heavy Cova da Moura neighbourhood. He shot to immobilise Monair “on instinct” and for his “own self-defence” but although the arrest was legitimate, his use of a firearm at short range was considered disproportional. The death sparked days of unrest across several neighbourhoods. Sequeira noted the police officer had shown sadness over the death.

A lawyer for Pinto, who was 28 with two years’ experience on the force at the time of the October 2024 shooting, said he was considering appealing and wanted to return to the police. Public prosecutors had called for the agent to be convicted of homicide and be expelled from the PSP. They pushed back on claims of legitimate self-defence, arguing Pinto “should be properly qualified to perform his duties”. Homicide with eventual intent is defined as when someone does not have the direct intention but assumes the risk of killing. The prosecutor argued police action should never exceed what was “strictly necessary” to combat crime. He said images showed Moniz resisting being restrained and handcuffed, while striking the officers a few times but could not be considered “extreme violence” justifying the use of a weapon. Other images seen in the trial also showed Pinto appearing to rummage in a bag next to Moniz’s body, a second bag that hadn’t been on the victim’s belt and a stained knife that only appeared at some later point. The prosecutor claimed the crime scene had been contaminated.

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At first glance, the cups look reusable but in practice they’re just stacking up in homes or being abandoned on the streets, Expresso reports. A system that’s meant to reduce urban waste is often instead creating it, while feeding a parallel business that has nothing to do with protecting the environment. Six years after Lisbon banned disposable cups, the replacements are widely used but cost the drinker a “deposit” of between €0.50 and €2, usually without any ability to return them and get the money back at the end of the night. Lisbon City Council estimates 25,000 cups are used on a busy night in Bairro Alto, Cais do Sodré and Santos. Circular Economy Portugal president Ana Almeida said the system often created new consumption rather than reducing it, adding that it wasn’t enough to just say the cups are reusable if people weren’t given a clear way to return them. “Without effective returns, the deposit loses its incentive function and becomes an additional cost or source of revenue for operators,” she said. Susana Fonseca, vice-president of environment association ZERO, said in practice the reusable cups were used like disposable ones but with a greater environmental impact because they contained more plastic.

The council admitted this month’s Santo António festivities would be a “particularly demanding context” and it wasn’t expecting systems to return cups everywhere. It said it was working with parishes, local businesses and organisers to improve the logistics. The CopoMais recycling system has machines in Bairro Alto, Príncipe Real and Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara but it requires a specific bar code on cups so it is reliant on businesses participating. There are six machines, with nine more to come by the end of June and 34 establishments taking part.

Don’t squash your Volta containers

In other recycling news, Público has issued a reminder that crumpled or squashed containers can’t be returned using the new Volta system, which has machines at thousands of supermarkets. Manager SDR Portugal said it was to ensure the code could be read and the container analysed to ensure it was covered by the scheme. The machines only accept plastic or metal bottles and cans with the Volta symbol, which should be returned empty in good condition and with the lid if applicable. Glass, TetraPak and drinks with more than 25% dairy aren’t covered.

Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies (APED) director-general Gonçalo Lobo Xavier told Radio Renascença that in its first month, the scheme recovered 400,000 containers. He said despite criticism on social media Volta was being well supported, adding that the figures compared well with the introduction of similar models in Austria and Ireland. Preparations are being made to launch a new entity responsible for an integrated system to manage furniture and mattress waste, with a decision on who runs it coming in November, Público reports.

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Wednesday’s (June 3) general strike threatens to disrupt parts of the country, particularly public transport and air travel, Expresso reports. The strike was called by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), one of the two central trade unions, in protest over the government’s attempts to ove…

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The mother of two French children found abandoned on the side of the road in the Alentejo and her partner will remain in custody after facing court at the weekend, Público reports. The children, aged four and five, were found on the road in Monte Novo do Sul, between Comporta and Alcácer do Sal, with just a backpack holding some clothes, water and fruit. The mother, named as Marine Rousseau, didn’t speak in court while the partner told a story the court didn’t find credible. It was decided to hold them in provisional detention due to risks of flight, interfering with the case and disturbing public order. The man, 55, is suspected of an offence against physical integrity for allegedly mistreating one of the children and two counts of abandonment, while the mother, 41, is suspected of two counts of aggravated abandonment, given they’re her children. French authorities had issued a European detention notice to ensure they were held in custody until they could face justice there.

The pair were arrested after being found in a bar in Fátima on Thursday, two days after the children were found, Público reports. French media reported that the children said the adults had blindfolded them and pretended it was a game in which they had to find a hidden object before taking it off. Public prosecutors said the children appeared to be healthy and were released from hospital on Thursday. Last week, public prosecutors remained unsure of why the mother took them from Colmar in France’s Grand Est only to allegedly abandon them in Portugal.

The brothers were reported missing on May 11 after the mother disappeared without any explanations, leaving behind another child, aged 16, Euronews reports, in English. Colmar public prosecutor Jean Richert said authorities had seen the woman “successively in the south of France, in Spain and in Portugal, but without being able to contact her”. She presents herself on social media as a “sexologist” who can help “all people who have suffered trauma to regain serenity and sexual satisfaction”, while her LinkedIn says she “specialises in body practices, developmental dynamics and specific care for trauma”. French media reported the man, identified as Marc Ballabriga, is a former police officer convicted in 2010 of harassment and domestic violence against the mother of his daughter.

The two boys, who lived with their mother, will not be immediately handed over to their father, who only had rights to limited and supervised visits, Expresso reports. They’re currently being cared for by a foster family and several more steps will need to be followed before Portuguese authorities will analyse a request from their French counterparts to return the children to France. The father, who had lost custody two years ago and complained to police they’d been kidnapped, said he was waiting on French authorities to do their work and let him know he could have his children back, RTP reports, citing French media. “Only a few days left until I get my children back,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about them every second since the Colmar police station contacted me to report their disappearance.”

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Lisbon airport will have more space, e-gates and booths from the end of this month but it’s not expected to be enough to avoid long border control lines for non-European Union passengers, Expresso reports. The government is yet to decide whether it will follow Greece in exempting British travellers from part of the new EU Entry-Exit System, which has contributed to problems at airports across Europe. On top of the expansion works due to finish on May 29, the Humberto Delgado Airport will have an extra 360 police officers at the border from July, to cover the summer peak. But the good news didn’t reduce the level of concern from airport operator ANA and tourism associations about the impact of keeping the new system operating without flexibility in terms of collecting biometric data. There have been problems with the data-collecting machines, which appear to need calibrating, something the Internal Security System (SSI) is looking into.

Lines at the border were often more than an hour in April and it’s feared the following months could be even worse if nothing is changed. Biometric data collection can be suspended for 90 days in certain circumstances and has already been paused more briefly on multiple occasions as passengers ran the risk of missing flights — or in some cases actually missed them. An informed source told Expresso full suspension of the EES would not be possible because it would result in Portugal’s suspension from the open-border Schengen zone. Low-cost carrier Ryanair has been particularly vocal in trying to persuade the government to suspend the biometric data collection.

The Home Affairs Ministry said the delays were due to several factors including intermittent IT failures and the construction work under way, Expresso reports. Police said wait times were up to 130 minutes at Porto airport, 110 minutes in Lisbon and 100 minutes in Faro on Sunday morning, pointing to a high number of passengers from outside the Schengen zone. It labelled reports of six-hour wait times “disinformation” that damaged the country’s image.

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More than 500 golden visa holders are set to sue Portugal over changes to the nationality law that will force them to wait years longer to become citizens, Expresso reports. North American lawyer Kevin Goff, who had six weeks left to wait under the old timeframe when the laws changed, said he felt like the rug had been pulled out from under him. Goff said he, his wife and children moved their lives to Portugal and started a fund building health clinics in the country’s interior. “Only I kept my end of the deal [with the government]. We feel betrayed, it was a trap,” he said. They’ll now have to wait eight years for citizenship because the new 10-year waiting period only applies from the day he received his residency card. That delay, caused by first SEF and then AIMA’s inability to comply with the legally mandated 90-day time limit to approve documentation, is just one of many complaints he and other golden visa holders have about the changes. One of the drivers of the legal action said those involved — mostly North American but also from other countries — simply wanted the Portuguese government to uphold its side of the contract, under which they expected citizenship within five years. Liberty Legal lawyer Madalena Monteiro said she was receiving inquiries daily from investors looking to take legal action.

Court rules stripping of citizenship unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court has again blocked the government’s attempt to allow naturalised citizens to be stripped of their citizenship for committing certain crimes, Público reports. The controversial measure was split out from the changes to the nationality law and instead passed through parliament as an addendum to the penal code. The judges unanimously rejected it on Friday, finding it violated the principles of equality and proportionality for creating a difference in law between those born Portuguese and those who earn the right to citizenship later in life. The law would have allowed judges to strip citizenship as an extra penalty for crimes — such as aggravated homicide, slavery, human trafficking, rape and sexual abuse and membership in a criminal or terrorist organisation — committed in the first 15 years as a Portuguese person. Such a law could only be considered proportional when applied to terrorism and crimes against the state, the judges noted.

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The president has accepted a range of reforms that will force foreigners to wait longer to become Portuguese citizens but not without reservations about its lack of broad support, Expresso reports. While there is no transition period built in to the nationality law overhaul he promulgated on Sunday, António José Seg…

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President António José Seguro has used his first 25 de Abril speech to call on young people to pay attention and defend democracy, Público reports. During a solemn session of parliament on the anniversary of the Carnation Revolution on Saturday, he warned freedom did not disappear “all at once” but “bit by bit”. While recognising young people could have reasons to distrust politics, Seguro said democracy was the place their voices could be heard. He called for them to “denounce violations of fundamental rights and engage in dialogue in the face of insults”. “April doesn’t need solemn guardians. It needs attentive, free citizens with critical thinking skills,” he said, adding “don’t be spectators to democracy, be protagonists”. The head of state also added his voice to people calling for donations to political parties to remain public, in response to a legal opinion earlier this month that they would become private. Far-right Chega has announced it will join with the left-wing Socialist Party (PS), Left Bloc (BE) and Livre to propose a draft bill to ensure political donors can be made public, Público reports.

In parliament, it’s become standard for the various parties to try to claim a little piece of the historic occasion for themselves and the 52nd anniversary was no different, Público reports. Social Democratic Party (PSD) parliamentary leader Hugo Soares accused those on the left of being “increasingly prejudiced” while attacking those on the right as “radicalised” and trying to claim the space of “moderation” for his governing party. Far-right Chega leader André Ventura meanwhile tried to minimise the roles of the “Captains of April” who led the coup that peacefully overthrew the dictatorship in 1974. On the left, Socialist Party (PS) leader José Luís Carneiro started by praising his party’s role in the early days of democracy before attacking the government over its stalled attempted labour reforms.

On the streets it was a different story, with Lisbon’s Avenida da República once again swelling in what was an affirmation of hard-won rights as well as a time for festivities and unity, Público reports. Many different generations came together, with carnations held high, to celebrate freedom, while also showing their concern for the present climate within civil society and the future. “April 25 forever, fascism never again” and “the people united, will never be defeated” echoed around the central avenue as people marched in their thousands.

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The Socialist Party (PS) has requested the courts analyse whether part of the government’s renewed immigration crackdown is unconstitutional, Expresso reports. It’s the second time the opposition party has sent nationality reforms approved by parliament to the Constitutional Court but this submission is focused only on one specific element. The reforms include a string of changes to the nationality law, which broadly speaking restrict under what circumstances foreigners can become Portuguese and how long they have to wait. There’s also a change to the criminal code that would allow naturalised citizens to be stripped of their nationality after being convicted of serious offences. PS on Friday only ordered an evaluation of the change to the penal code, arguing it would discriminate between different types of Portuguese citizens. The party called the change “manifestly unconstitutional” and labelled it an “unfair and unfortunate concession by PSD to the far right”. The first time around, the court blocked several changes to the nationality law itself. This time, PS parliamentary leader Eurico Brilhante Dias said while the reform deserved political opposition, his party had worked to resolve some of the unconstitutionalities. President António José Seguro had until Monday (April 20) to decide whether or not to send the other changes to the Constitutional Court. He has 20 days, from April 13, to decide whether to approve or veto it.

You can read more about the changes approved by the parliament in Portugal Weekly from April 7.

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The reintroduction of enhanced biometric screening at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado International Airport has been causing chaos for passengers leaving the Schengen zone, Público reports. Lines at some points reached the area with shops and restaurants in terminal one. Brazilian João Quintino de Almeida said he had to wait in a queue of about two hours to pass through security before another one taking three hours. He said people with European passports were able to skip the long queues. Several passengers slammed the airport for incompetence. Airport operator ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal told Público some passengers missed their flights due to the delays. A spokesperson said eight people missed a flight to Guarulhos in Brazil, which airline Latam said left 52 minutes late due to the long queues.

The new European Entry/Exit System, which involves collecting fingerprints for non-EU passengers leaving or entering the Schengen zone, was suspended multiple times over the weekend due to the delays, Lusa reports. The Public Security Police (PSP), which took over border security responsibility when SEF was disbanded, said it was suspended during parts of Saturday and Sunday at Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports. Spokesperson Sérgio Soares said a large number of people were leaving the passport-free travel zone from those airports and the police force was doing all it could to keep waiting times reasonable and avoid travellers missing flights. He said security control was being carried out safely and normally but without collecting biometric data. The situation in the arrivals zone was calmer across the weekend than the departures. The EES has been phased in since October and is supposed to be fully in place as of Friday just gone. Portugal wasn’t the only place to struggle; UK passengers were first to spend thousands of pounds to get home after missing their flight to Manchester from Milan’s Linate airport on Sunday, the BBC reports, in English.

My partner (and editor) Daniela Sunde-Brown flew out of Lisbon on Friday, April 10, and said in the non-EU queue Australian, Canadian, UK, USA and possibly some other passports with chips were being pushed through the standard electronic gates when she departed. Other non-EU passports such as Brazilian were being channelled through the new EES gates with fingerprints.

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Parliament’s right wing has united to again approve an overhaul to citizenship requirements, which the parties hope will be enough to avoid another rejection on constitutional grounds, Expresso reports. Debate on Wednesday ranged from accusations of failing to act in the past to the relative merits of “patrioti…

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The governing coalition has brought a reworked proposal back to the parliament in an attempt to pass nationality law reforms that the Constitutional Court struck down last year, Público reports. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and CDS’ new draft bill keeps the much-criticised ability to strip nationality for dual citizens but restricts the number of crimes covered and severity of jail sentences in an attempt to get around the veto. The proposal would allow the stripping of citizenship for anyone who is jailed for six or more years — up from four in the original draft bill — for a crime committed within 10 years of obtaining citizenship. The crimes covered have been reduced to cover only aggravated murder, slavery, human trafficking, rape, sexual abuse, crimes against state security, and terrorism-related crimes. The court had considered a qualifier relating to the date of citizenship violated the principle of equality, finding there wasn’t a sufficient basis to discriminate on that front. It found including most of the crimes originally listed would violate the principle of proportionality. The new law would block someone from becoming Portuguese if they’ve been jailed for six years, up from two. It proposes nationality won’t be granted if it’s obtained fraudulently, dropping the words “manifestly fraudulent” and adding an exception for third-parties “in good faith”.

PSD MP António Rodrigues said after a lot of “turbulence” early on he hoped the parties could reach an “understanding”. He denied claims of a pre-arranged deal with the far-right Chega party, which has been the most vocal on immigration, saying no party would be especially privileged in the negotiations and that the government had included contributions from others in an attempt to reach consensus. Chega leader André Ventura said it hadn’t been possible to reach an agreement with other parties to have a complete bill, “viable and capable of being approved”. He said the claim PSD had incorporated Chega’s positions was “false” and accused the government of trying to get in the “good graces” of the Socialist Party (PS). Ventura insisted on including drug trafficking and criminal association on the list of crimes eligible for nationality stripping, along with a ban on anyone applying for nationality receiving government subsidies. Immigrants arriving in Portugal since 2010 have spent less than 5% of their time here receiving unemployment benefits or any other type of subsidy, compared to 7% for Portuguese people in the same age group, Público reports.

Important tweak to application timeframes

PSD and CDS have decided to drop a measure they’d tried to introduce relating to the waiting time for applying for citizenship, Sábado reports. There was no word on changes to key parts of the laws seemingly not affected by the court’s ruling, such as doubling to 10 years the amount of time citizens from most countries must live legally in Portugal before applying for naturalisation. But under the tweaked proposal, that time will continue to be counted from the moment of applying for residency, rather than from the moment it is granted, like the government had wanted initially. The measures will be debated in parliament on Wednesday.

You can read more about the parliament’s approval of the original proposal and the court’s rejection of it in previous editions of Portugal Weekly.

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As the war in Iran threatens gas and oil shipping and infrastructure, the Portuguese government has announced six measures to help deal with surging prices, Expresso reports. On top of fuel tax cuts, there will be steeper discounts on bottled gas for those eligible, a promise to directly intervene to keep prices down in case of an “energy crisis” and restrictions on cutting off power to those who can’t pay. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said the government would take action to mitigate the war’s impact on people’s lives as much as possible.

• Consumer fuel: The already introduced reduction to the petroleum and energy products duty (ISP) limits the impact of skyrocketing petrol and diesel costs by up to 10c/L for all drivers and has already been applied at the bowser.

• Business diesel: There will now be an extra 10c/L (15.5c/L in total) in assistance for professions such as truck and taxi drivers that rely on diesel.

• Gas bottles: For families already receiving benefits to help them buy gas, the government contribution will jump from €15 a bottle to €25 a bottle.

• Energy crisis: Minister for the Presidency António Leitão Amaro announced a contingency plan for energy in case prices surge out of control, allowing the government to declare an “energy crisis” and set prices below cost in line with inflation. The mechanism will kick in if wholesale prices jump 2.5 times the five-year average or rise above €180/MWh, or if retail prices jump 70% and look likely to stay there for three months. Leitão Amaro said the country was still a long way from those limits.

• Electricity cuts: Suppliers with more than 200,000 clients must offer fixed price, fixed term contracts and will be limited in their ability to cut off economically vulnerable people during consumption peaks in winter and summer.

• Homemade energy: The government is simplifying licensing for renewable energy projects, waiving it entirely for self-production up to 800 watts and promoting the production of biomethane and green hydrogen from renewable sources.

Opposition parties want more done to help

It’s not enough for many of the opposition parties, who have called for limits to profit margins and greater tax cuts, Público reports. Various proposals from Liberal Initiative (IL), the Communist Party (PCP), Livre, Left Bloc (BE) and People-Animals-Nature (PAN) want VAT (IVA) dropped to 6% for gas bottles, maximum profit margins set for fuel sellers and controls on food prices. Far-right Chega called for VAT to be scrapped entirely on the standard food basket and a suspension of the carbon tax. Montenegro admitted that the country could end the year in deficit due to the impact of the storms and the war, Expresso reports. He insisted that did not mean the public accounts were not balanced and that his government was still fighting for a surplus.

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New President António José Seguro came to power promising to be more selective about what he speaks about and his comments in his first week in office have already produced effects, Público reports. His public declarations on Monday and Tuesday last week resulted in the government and the country’s two main trade unions heading back to the negotiating table on stalled labour law reforms and a jump-start to the formation of an inquiry into last year’s fires. Seguro has called for “less words, more actions” from the government, stressing the importance of delivering the assistance measures promised after disasters.

Fire victims waiting on €4 million

Recognising that Portugal’s political system does not grant him executive power like in many other presidential systems, Seguro said he would use the power of his words and his presence in Arganil, one of the region’s worst affected by last year’s forest fires. People there are still waiting on about €4 million related to losses from the event. A specialist independent commission into the response to the fires was approved months ago but had been waiting on two more names to fill out the panel. Those names were supplied two days after comments from Seguro, who has promised to use his role to supervise the government and check it’s carrying out its promises. His extension of that demand to support measures following this year’s storms prompted Economy and Territorial Cohesion Minister Manuel Castro Almeida to admit help for the affected homes was “not going well”.

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President António José Seguro has taken office, calling for a new political culture and stressing the importance of protecting democracy, while delivering messages for both the government and opposition parties, Expresso reports. The new head of state promised political stability as a precondition for change, labelling the next three years without elections a “golden opportunity” to create “lasting solutions” to Portugal’s problems. He provided a long list of those, including insufficient economic growth, low salaries, inequality, excess bureaucracy and problems accessing healthcare and housing. The former Socialist Party leader said he wanted the current Social Democratic Party (PSD) government to stay its full term without “excuses”, putting the onus on the government and opposition parties to create solutions rather than roadblocks and talk rather than retreating to their trenches.

Seguro warned of the risks to democracy and freedom being felt in many countries, declaring Portugal wasn’t immune and describing caring for democracy as an “urgent task” for the president. Taking office on Monday (March 9) in the middle of a war in the Middle East, he pushed for Portugal to take a more active role in Europe and for Europe to take a more active role in the world. “Portugal needs a better Europe and the world needs more Europe,” he said. He left outgoing president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa with a word of gratitude, saying whatever any individual person made of his 10 years in the job, they could not deny his love for the country.

Selfies, beach interviews and approachability

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa left his mark as a president known for his accessibility, informality and a record number of dissolutions of parliament, Público reports. His last days in office brought him back to the people as he spent almost every day with those affected by the storms. His casual style surprised people initially 10 years ago but former president of parliament Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues described it as a “breath of fresh air” at a time when the country was still hurting from the intervention of the troika following the financial crisis. The informality, including thousands of selfies with anonymous strangers and TV interviews in swimwear on the beach, was a marked departure from his predecessor. But while his proximity endeared him to many, it left others criticising him for speaking too often on too many subjects, claiming it robbed him of gravitas and diminished the power of his declarations.

Marcelo left the presidential Belém Palace much as he entered it, walking on the street and departing from protocol, Expresso reports. While Seguro greeted dignitaries at the entrance to the ceremony at the Assembly of the Republic in São Bento, Marcelo wandered alone, speaking to people out and about and even walking into a newsagent to buy a DVD of news of the past 10 years. Unlike much of his mandate, he was restrained in his comments, saying only that Seguro would be a “great, great president”. Approached by journalists as he left the palace in Belém for the final time, he finished simply with “thanks for everything”. In a Barómetro DN/Aximage poll for Diário de Notícias voters gave Marcelo an approval rate of plus 40 percentage points. Asked to rate his term, 16% said it was very positive, 52% said positive, 20% said negative and only 8% opted for very negative.

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Councils warn storm recovery could take years, millions of trees gone

Local councils are begging the government for help to fix storm damage and some are warning the work could take until the end of the decade to complete, even if they dedicate their whole council budget, Expresso reports. Of the 148 municipalities that were under the declared emergency situation, 42 gave the newspaper some form of damage report but most still had no idea how much it would cost. Of the 22 who had preliminary estimates, the damage bill was beyond €1 billion. Of the 1000 people across the country still unable to return to their homes, dozens were unlikely ever to be able to do so permanently. Pé do Monte, in the far north of the Lisbon district, and Porto Brandão in Almada, across the river from the capital, remained isolated. Last week, there were 40 national roads closed and 30 municipalities with permanent damage, including bridges under evaluation and closed schools.

A couple who went missing in the floods have been found dead in their car, Expresso reports. The 68-year-old and 65-year-old from Verride were found on Wednesday in the Coimbra municipality of Soure, south-east of Figuira da Foz, after going missing on the way to an appointment a day earlier. The car was off the road when it was found.

“Many millions” of trees knocked down by Storm Kristin may increase Portugal’s fire risk this year, several experts have told Expresso. In Leiria alone, the city council used drones to survey and counted 5 to 8 million trees lost between the urban and forested parts of the district. Carlos Palheira, who’s responsible for the Green Spaces portfolio, said it was like “a war” had passed through. “It’s impossible not to be shocked and saddened, because many were old, they were left to us and we couldn’t keep them for memory”. It took 20 separate companies to remove all of the trees from the urban areas and some areas lost almost half of their tree coverage. Fire expert and Agency for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires (AGIF) collaborator António Salgueiro said along with the normal combustible material this year there could be twice as many needles, leaves and branches as usual, favouring fires with “exceptional intensity”. University of Coimbra researcher Joaquim Sande Silva said it could make the situation worse but was just a “drop in the ocean” in terms of total burnable material.

The effects of the storms are still being counted across the country:

• State museums and palaces have been asking for help with leaks for years. The Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon, the Machado de Castro National Museum in Coimbra and, of course, the Mafra National Palace, are just some of the patrimony to suffer damage, Público reports.

• Parts of Leiria are still without power after three weeks. Dozens of workers called in from Ireland’s public energy company to help with restoration have praised the patience of locals, Lusa reports.

• The A1 has reopened in a very limited manner in Coimbra, where part of the country’s biggest highway was washed into the Mondego River after a dyke burst. It’s only a single lane either way for about two kilometres, using only the intact half of the bridge span, Lusa reports.

• The road from Sines to Porto Covo, on the Alentejo coast, is expected to take three months to reopen and cost more than €1 million to fix, Expresso reports.

• The country’s food production has been hit hard, as exemplified by the experiences of a fisherman who hasn’t been to sea in four months and a farmer who will need to wait another two months to harvest, Expresso reports.

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The worst of the weather has passed and the disaster situation has been lifted after back-to-back storms claimed 16 lives, injured many more, caused thousands of evacuations and cut off Portugal’s primary highway and railway, Expresso reports. But problems remain across the country, from a village isolated and thousands still without power or phone networks after more than a fortnight, to the large chunk of the A1 washed into the Mondego River and schools forced closed due to damage. Regional and national roads remained cut on Monday in many places, notably Arruda dos Vinhos, Alenquer, Leiria, Alcácer do Sal, Coimbra, Montemor-o-Velho and Sertã. Work had begun to fix the north lanes of the A1 where it collapsed into the water near Casais — west of Coimbra — after a dyke burst, but was expected to take up to three weeks. The village of Ereira, on the banks of the Mondego between Coimbra and Figueira da Foz, turned into an island 16 days ago. The army and navy are keeping the town supplied, with boats the only way to get to work or school.

• Roads: Local authorities estimate many damaged roads may take until the end of the year to be repaired. Some councils have dozens cut or otherwise impacted.

• Trains: The North train line has returned to service after going under water but the West and Beira Baixa lines are still suspended in large parts and the Cascais line is operating on an altered schedule.

• Power: Parts of Leiria are still without power 18 days on from Kristin, with 11,000 homes and businesses affected. Workers have arrived from Spain to help more than 1000 E-Redes workers on the ground.

• Phones: The country’s phone networks are almost back to normal but there are still thousands without connection. Vodafone is the only operator to predict its network will be back to 100% by the end of the month.

• Schools: Education Minister Fernando Alexandre said the Marrazes and Vieira de Leiria school groups in Leiria and Marinha Grande needed repair work that would take about 15 days. Coimbra schools are expected to reopen normally on Wednesday.

• Deaths: As of Monday, 16 people had lost their lives in the storms and hundreds had been injured or forced out of their homes. A couple in their 60s, Venância and Maria de Fátima, have been missing since last Tuesday, when they failed to return from an appointment in Coimbra.

• Rivers: Red alert levels have been reduced along the major rivers, down to yellow for the Tejo and orange for the Douro, but residents are warned the situation is not fully over.

• Tolls: Payment suspended on parts of the A8, A17, A14 and A19 highways was reimposed on Monday (February 16).

• Beaches: Guincho now has a cliff in the middle of the sand, Mira lost seven metres of beach in five days. Even with some natural recovery, experts fear many beaches from the north to the south of the country will still be unrecognisable by summer, Expresso reports.

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António José Seguro is Portugal’s next president, earning the support of two thirds of voters to comfortably defeat André Ventura in the run-off election. Just after midnight, with 99% of votes counted, Expresso’s figures showed the Socialist Party-backed (PS) candidate had 66.82% of the vote compared to 33.18% for the far-right Chega leader. The president-elect promised he would be a president for all Portuguese regardless of who they voted for or whether they voted at all. He declared his words as president would have “weight” and pledged to ask “hard questions” of the government on subjects such as health and its response to the recent storms. Seguro said he didn’t expect a victory of this magnitude but said the “reinforced legitimacy” would usher in a “culture of compromise” with the government and other parties to create long-lasting public policies. Seguro distanced his victory from PS, the party he used to lead, stressing his independence and promising equal treatment for Ventura’s party too. He said the current government’s term wouldn’t be interrupted on his account.

Most votes ever

Seguro (3,482,481 shortly after midnight) narrowly passed Mário Soares (3,459,521) to record the most votes in the country’s democratic history, Expresso reports. In terms of percentage, Seguro’s was the second biggest win, behind Soares’ re-election in 1991 (70.35%). Despite the bad weather, turnout for the second round of voting was almost as high as the first, Público reports. In all, 280,000 fewer (47.74% abstention in round one to 49.89% in the second) people headed to the polls on Sunday and the number of blank ballots tripled.

Ventura claims Chega’s ‘best result ever’

The resounding defeat didn’t stop Ventura from claiming the result as a victory of sorts for him and his party, while conceding defeat on election night Público reports. Shifting immediately from failed presidential candidate to opposition leader, the populist leader said the message from voters was clear, claiming his party led the right of politics and would “soon” govern the country. To make that claim, he compared the party-based parliamentary elections, in which the governing Democratic Alliance got 31.8%, to his 33.2% in the presidential race. Even comparing a party-based election to the single-candidate presidential one, AD won more votes in the parliamentary election, 2 million compared to Ventura’s 1.73 million. Ventura said not winning meant there was work to be done but hailed Chega’s “best result ever”.

Montenegro promises ‘cooperation and collaboration’

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro promised “cooperation and collaboration” with Seguro to guarantee political stability, Expresso reports. He promised a spirit of convergence to safeguard the national interest, and serve the country and its people in the next 3.5 years without elections.

Risk remains despite improving weather

Authorities have warned the risk of flooding remains high despite a slight easing in weather conditions on Sunday, Público reports. National commander Mário Silvestre said the biggest danger was not the rain itself but its effects on already inundated areas. Since the start of the bad weather, Civil Protection has responded to 11,213 incidents — mostly fallen trees, earth slips and flooding — with almost 40,000 workers. More than 1200 people were preemptively removed from their homes and 76,000 remained without power at lunchtime on Sunday.

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The disaster situation sparked by Storm Kristin has been extended until February 8 and expanded to encompass 60 municipalities across the country, Diário de Notícias reports. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced the extension on Sunday after consulting with mayors in the worst-aff…

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