Room with a view in the center – Martim Moniz – 18 m², 1300 euro/month
‘No, it is not okay’, mutters João. ‘We got a letter from the landlord the other day. Our contract expires in November. He wants to increase the rent from 300 to 800 euro a month and reduce the contract period to one year. I’ am sure he’ll increase the rent again next year.
But it’s too much, I can’t afford that.’
Joao is a stocky, compact fellow. Looks like 60. Blue eyes, strong hands. Works as a gardener nearby. Says he can’t stay at home during the day with a depressive wife complaining all day.
‘Where do you live?’, I ask
‘Principe Real, for 37 years. My daughter and grandson are born in that same place. It’s a nice neighbourhood.
‘I bet’, I say. ‘And very popular among tourist these days. I’ve heard Jamie Oliver has opened an Italian restaurant there somewhere’. My wife doesn’t like Italian’, he grumbles.
Almost half a million tenants are awaiting the same fate as João. Most of the rental agreements signed last year in Lisbon were for one year only. The good news is that the socialist government wants to intervene in the overheated housing market and overrule the Rental Law (Lei das Rendas) of 2012, when the former conservative government liberalized the real estate sector.
Within five years rents in Lisbon increased by 36%.
Prime minister António Costa now wants that landlords – who let their dwellings for 20% below the market value for a period of at least 3 years – are given tax benefits.
The longer the contract the greater the benefit!
‘Sounds nice’, moans João ‘but 80% of 800 is still too much.’
‘Ho, Ho. I am not finished yet’, I continue.
Housing is a priority for this government, that wants to build more affordable accommodation and has set aside 1,7 billion euros to give 26.000 needy families – half of them from Lisbon – a decent home within six years. It also intends to give municipalities the right to claim vacant properties for social habitation.
Well, it’s a pity I’ am not one of those families and six years is a long time, especially at my age’, João replies.
‘No, I’ am afraid we’ll have to leave the city center. It’s a shame, selling the capital to the well-off and the numerous tourists. Thanks anyway but I really have to go back to work.’
‘But João, wait! How old are you?’
‘72. Why?
‘Well, in that case, I wouldn’t worry too much. Anyone over 65 and living for more than 25 years in the same house is – according to this new law- entitled to an automatic renewal of his current contract. And there is a very good chance that Parliament will approve this very soon. You better hold on.’
Bom fim da semana Enjoy the weekend
‘It’s a shame how Portugal treats his refugees’, says Jose Manuel Pureza, MP of the Left Bloc (BE). ’The Portuguese government is – unlike many European countries – willing to accept more refugees. That’s positive. The problem, however, is the practical implementation.’
‘People are simply put somewhere and have no say at all in the conditions in which they are accommodated’, Vacchiano emphasizes. ‘As if a refugee doesn’t have a voice of his own. His educational background and profession don’t exist anymore. These are simply deleted.’
The granting of a residence permit by the SEF ( Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras) – Portugal’s immigration and border police – takes by and large 12 to 18 months. One can only apply for family reunification áfter obtaining the permit, which takes ‘at least another 5-6 months’, according to SEF.
Both left and right wing parties in Parliament are concerned about racism in the police force and violation of human rights in prisons. The reason is a recently published report of the European Committee against Torture, stating that police violence in Portugal – in particular against African descendants – is the highest in Western Europe.
The committee – that also visited the country in 2013 – emphasizes that the police violence at police stations has increased and that the situation in the overcrowded prisons of Caxias, Setubal, and Lisbon is ‘inhuman and degrading.’
Julia Kozma, lawyer and chairing the European delegation, points the finger towards the Ministry of Internal Affairs – responsible for the police and the security forces – and regrets its lack of ‘awareness’. The Ministry denies the accusations and declares that ‘all complaints about violent police conduct are investigated by the Internal General Inspectorate (IGAI) and immediately reported to the Public Prosecutor.’
The reality, however, is that only a very small number of the complaints are brought before court. ‘And that’s exactly the problem’, says Kozma. ‘There is a spirit of impunity and bureaucracy, whereby complaining doesn’t help. The inspection body (IGAI) needs more skills to conduct criminal investigations and more resources to act independently.’
In recent months the non-governmental organization SOS racism received an increasing number of grievances from inmates in the prison of Lisbon about racist provocations and intimidations. Peculiar was that all complaints came from African immigrants and that any registration on xenophobe or racist behavior from the guards and staff is lacking.
Patients have to wait 3 years to see a urologist in Vila Real or an ENT specialist in Leiria and 2 years to obtain an appointment with a cardiologist in Guarda. These extremes not only occur in the countryside, as the waiting list for a neurological consultation at Amadora Sintra – one of the biggest state hospitals in the country – exceeds more than a year.
The average waiting period for (non-acute) specialist care in Portugal is 4 months, varying from 6 months for an ophthalmologist to 6 weeks for an obstetrician. Patients who have to wait for more than five months have – by law – the right to be treated in the private sector. A costly buffer as the SNS, respectively the taxpayer must pay the bill.
The excessive waiting lists are – according to the independent trade union of doctors Sindicato Independente dos Médicos – mainly the result of the fact that specialists in state hospitals have to spend too much – almost half – of their time to emergencies. The majority of the specialists working in the SNS is therefore unsatisfied. Many want to abandon the service and either go into private practice or leave the country, where working conditions are better and the pay higher.
‘Wages are indeed low, excess hours abundant and career prospects nil’, explains Maria Ferreira of the Public Health Department of the University of Porto, who conducted an investigation under 15.000 doctors in northern Portugal. ‘Half of the recently qualified doctors is thinking of leaving the country after finishing their specialization and over 1200 doctors have already left in the past 3 years.’
A draft legislation thereupon was submitted in July 2017 and discussed in Parliament early this year. Heloísa Apolónia – MP of the Ecological and Green Party (PEV) – explains ‘our proposal is to ban the use of plastic disposables in restaurants and bars and to look for biodegradable substitutes within 3 years.’
António Fonseca, the president of the Association of Bars in the Historic Center of Porto (ABZHP) – that encourages the legalization of the use of alcohol in public places – believes that the plans are irresponsible in the light of the danger glassware can cause in nightlife.
‘This earthquake can be considered as moderately severe’, says Fernando Carrilho, chief seismologist at the IPMA (Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere). ‘People shouldn’t worry too much as the southern part of the country has always been seismic active.’
‘Preventive measures are warranted’, especially in the densely populated areas in the south – like Lisbon and the Algarve – that are most at risk’, says Daniel Oliveira, a civil engineer at the University of Minho. ‘Although a law from 1958 requires earthquake-proof construction, most buildings in the historic capital date from before that time and there is hardly any monitoring of the implementation of the law.’
Over the past 500 years, Portugal has suffered four major earthquakes – in 1531, 1755, 1909 and 1969 – with a magnitude of 6 or more on the Richter scale. The biggest and by far most tragic one was in 1755. With a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale, it developed apocalyptic proportions and completely wiped out the lower part of the capital. This earthquake (terramoto) inspired poets, influenced philosophers, activated prophets and motivated politicians – like the Marquis of Pombal – to a completely new architectural reconstruction of the Baixa, Lisbon’s city center.
Nowadays, half of the children are born outside marriage and in 20% parents also do not live together, a number that has doubled in the last 6 years.
In parallel to a decline in the number of marriages, there has been an increase in the number of divorces, with Portugal ranking first in Europe. Remarkable is that women have to wait longer than men before they can remarry, ten months instead of six!
Same-sex marriages comprise only 1% of the wedlock but are four times more common in Lisbon and Porto than in the sparsely populated interior. Since 2010 – when gay marriage became legally possible in Portugal – 2300 gay couples have married, two-thirds being men.
Portugal’s famous pavement originates from the nineteenth century. 
Calçada Portuguesa ( Portuguese-style pavement) is characterized by tight paving with small, irregularly shaped – usually white and black – limestones. Not only ships, animals, stars, flowers, anchors or mermaids inhabit the ground, also geometric patterns show themselves as magnificent stony carpets. Their extraordinary symmetry is impressive in this respect.
Figures in artistic sidewalks and squares – characterized by the application of stones of different color and shape – were traditionally performed with the aid of wooden molds. The base-color stone, usually white, is first laid around the mold and after removal, the darker stones are fitted inside.
Advantages of mosaic pavement are the use of local materials, its sustainability (stones can be re-used), the ease of removal, the invisibility of restorations (when performed professionally), the efficient drainage and its cultural and touristic value.
Since Portugal has been declared World’s Leading Destination and Lisbon Best City Break in 2017, I’ am sure you are dying to visit the country in order to see for yourself, whether these prestigious awards are justified. 
However, that hasn’t always been the case. It started as a forced task performed by prisoners in the nineteenth century. Only later it evolved into a craft and pavers (calceteiros) became recognized artisans, whose art became appreciated in such a way, that it spread to many cities and continents.
It became an immediate success and similar works were ordered, such as the paving of Lisbon’s major square Praça D. Pedro IV – popularly known as Rossio (meaning ‘wide and public space’) – that took place between 1846 and 1849.
The pavement of Rossio was called ‘Wide Sea’ (Mar Largo) for depicting waves, symbolizing the encounter between the Tagus river and the Atlantic Ocean, which launched the Portuguese into the Discoveries in the 15th century. After Rossio, Lisbon adopted mosaic pavement for all its squares and sidewalks and it became the most popular pavement in historic Portuguese towns and famous worldwide.