2019 in Portugal


Events in the year 2019 in Portugal.

Incumbents

Events

January

  • 8 January – Funding worth €1.15 billion for both an expansion of Lisbon Airport and the construction of a second airport in Montijo is agreed to by the government and French company Vinci SGEF.PA. The plans for the new airport, which seek to increase capacity for the growing tourism industry, are opposed by environmental campaigners over the ecological value of the proposed Montijo site.
  • 10 January – A programme investing €10 billion into infrastructure works by 2030 is approved by the government. Transport projects will receive a majority of the funding with €6 billion earmarked for plans such as improvements to the Lisbon–Porto railway link.
  • 16 January:
  • *Police intercept 430 kilograms of cocaine hidden within a shipment of bananas in Leixões after receiving a tip-off from the Spanish authorities. The seized cocaine was en route to Spain from Latin America and is estimated to have a street value of approximately €15 million.
  • *A Portuguese man, named as Rui Pinto by Portuguese media, is detained in Hungary on charges of extortion after hacking the emails of football clubs F.C. Porto, S.L. Benfica, and Sporting CP. Details from the hacked emails later appear on the website Football Leaks. Pinto's lawyers later confirm his identity as the arrested man.

February

March

  • 7 March – In response to the deaths of twelve women to domestic violence since the beginning of the year, the highest number in Portugal for a decade, a national day of mourning is held with flags being flown at half-mast and the Assembly observing a minute's silence.
  • 8 March – Between 6,000 and 10,000 people march in Lisbon demanding improvements in pay and working conditions for nurses.
  • 26 March – Data from the INE reveals that the government's budget deficit fell to 0.5% of gross domestic product in 2018, the lowest recorded since the Carnation Revolution in 1974.
  • 28–29 March – A series of wildfires break out in the north of the country after a spell of unseasonably warm and dry weather. There are no reports of any injuries.

April

  • 4 April – Amid increasing criticism of nepotism within the government, Secretary of State for the Environment Carlos Martins resigns after the appointment of his cousin as his assistant becomes public.
  • 15–18 April – Drivers of fuel-tankers strike over pay and working conditions, agreeing only to deliver supplies to critical infrastructure as part of a legal minimum service requirement. Despite government requests motorists form long queues at petrol stations across the country, thousands of which run completely dry. The strike ends on 18 April after the drivers' employers agree to hold talks the following month.
  • 17 April – At least 29 people are killed and a further 27 are injured in a bus crash on the island of Madeira.
  • 24 April – Shareholders of utilities company Energias de Portugal, the largest business in the country, reject a €9 billion buy-out bid by the Chinese energy company China Three Gorges.

May

June

July

  • 7 July – UNESCO announces the addition of the Palace of Mafra and the Bom Jesus do Monte to its list of World Heritage Sites, bringing the total number of sites in Portugal to seventeen.
  • 16 July – Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva announces that the government will provisionally withhold from issuing entry visas to citizens of Iran for undisclosed security reasons. Santos Silva also confirms that the move is not a response to any deterioration of Portuguese–Iranian relations.
  • 20 July – A series of wildfires break out in the Castelo Branco district, injuring at least 20 people. More than 1,800 firefighters are sent to attempt to contain the outbreak.
  • 30 July – The government seizes a series of more than 900 artworks belonging to businessman José Berardo, who had pledged the collection as a guarantee of debt repayments to the state totalling some €1 billion. The paintings, which include works by Joan Miró and Piet Mondrian, have been publicly exhibited in Lisbon's museums since 2006.

August

  • 9 August – In anticipation of a second strike by drivers of fuel-tankers, the government declares an energy crisis to maintain supplies to critical infrastructure such as hospitals and airports. It also announces rationing of petrol and diesel lasting from 10 August until 21 August, restricting motorists to a maximum of 15 litres of fuel.
  • 11 August – In cycling, João Rodrigues wins the 2019 Volta a Portugal in a time of 40 hours, 57 minutes, and 4 seconds.
  • 12–16 August – Fuel-tanker drivers strike for the second time this year over pay and working conditions. In their absence police officers and soldiers are drafted in to help maintain supplies to key sectors. Fourteen striking drivers are meanwhile cited by the government for flouting a decree mandating their co-operation in deliveries to hospitals and other critical infrastructure. After five days the fuel-tanker drivers agree to end their strike on 16 August and enter negotiations.

September

  • 4 September – A new law tightening penalties against the littering of cigarette butts in public areas is introduced, with offenders facing fines of up to €250 from September 2020.
  • 4–5 September – Two helicopters crash in separate incidents on successive days while tackling wildfires in northern Portugal, leaving the pilot of the first with minor injuries and killing the pilot of the second.
  • 11 September – MPs vote to condemn the planned opening of a museum later in the year dedicated to António de Oliveira Salazar, the authoritarian Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968, in Salazar's hometown of Santa Comba Dão.
  • 22 September – Madeiran regional election: The Social Democratic Party loses the majority it has held in the [Legislative Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)|Assembly of Madeira|Legislative Assembly] since 1976 and enters into a coalition with the CDS – People's Party.
  • 26 September – Prosecutors announce that the former Defence Minister José Azeredo Lopes will face charges including abuse of power, denial of justice, and misfeasance over his role in the theft of arms from a military depot in Tancos in June 2017. Azeredo Lopes, who resigned from his post in 2018, is one of 23 defendants who will stand trial over the incident and the attempted obstruction of the subsequent police investigation.

October

  • 2 October – Hurricane Lorenzo passes near the western Azores, bringing strong winds to much of the archipelago and severely damaging the main port on Flores. There are no reports of any injuries.
  • 6 October – Legislative election: The Socialist Party of Prime Minister António Costa wins 106 seats to remain the largest party in the Assembly, taking 36.7% of votes ahead of the Social Democratic Party on 29.7%. Short by an overall majority of ten seats, Costa announces negotiations to continue his party's alliance with the Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party for another term. Chega meanwhile becomes the first far-right party to win a seat in the Assembly since the Carnation Revolution. Turnout falls to 54.5%, the lowest for a general election since Portugal's return to democracy in 1974.
  • 22 October – The Ordem dos Médicos suspends obstetrician Artur Carvalho over claims of negligent conduct after failing to detect severe fetal abnormalities in a boy born on 7 October in Setúbal. Further cases of similar negligence by Carvalho spanning more than 10 years subsequently emerge, prompting media debates over procedures within the national health care system.

November

  • 13 November – Prime Minister António Costa unveils government plans to raise the monthly minimum wage from €600 to €635 on 1 January 2020 as part of a pledge to reach €750 by 2023.

December

Ongoing events

Anniversaries

Deaths

January to March

April to June

July to September

October to December