Portugal's 2027 budget debate opens amid housing protests and plans for tents outside Parliament

Two days of budget debate

The Government's proposal for the 2027 State Budget (Orçamento do Estado para 2027, OE2027) comes before the Assembleia da República on Tuesday, 27 October and Wednesday, 28 October, with more than ten hours of debate planned. The Tuesday session opens at 15:00 with an intervention by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, and 249 minutes (about four hours) are scheduled for that day, although parties may bring part of their time forward or move it to Wednesday. Wednesday's plenary sessions are set for 10:00 and 15:00, with another four hours of debate and 109 minutes for closing interventions from all parties. The general vote on the budget is scheduled for Wednesday, and its passage is already secured by the abstention of the Partido Socialista (PS).

The rent law and the Socialist challenge

PS secretary-general José Luís Carneiro told journalists in Braga on Monday, 26 October, that he would bring housing and the cost of living into the debate. He put his demand to the prime minister in direct terms:

“Luís Montenegro is or is not available to drop the new rent law, and whether he is available to approve the public guarantee we put forward for Portuguese citizens.”

The rent law, backed by Chega and Iniciativa Liberal, makes it harder for young people to find a rental home, burdens middle-class families by easing evictions, and leaves older residents uncertain, in Carneiro's view. His alternative is a public guarantee (garantia pública) that would protect landlords against unpaid rent while balancing their position with that of tenants.

Protests in Lisbon and Porto

The housing protests have run for one week in Lisbon and two in Porto, and the Lisbon demonstration was on its 10th day on Monday, 26 October. Police moved in early on Sunday, 25 October, to disperse protests in both cities, and reports describe dozens injured and detentions. At the Acampada de Lisboa's popular assembly on Monday evening, about 90 votes in favour, with a majority of abstentions, approved setting up tents in front of the Assembleia da República on Tuesday evening after the protest. Whether protesters will stay overnight remains open, and the assembly will vote on that again on Tuesday. A protest called by the 'Casa para Viver' platform starts at 18:30 on Tuesday outside Parliament. The Acampada has also appealed to the Frente Comum de Sindicatos da Administração Pública to join an Iberian strike in November, and in Porto protesters have denounced evictions.

Government response and the wait for the vote

Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento told parliament on Friday, 23 October, that the government has taken 'muitas medidas' to answer the housing crisis and that almost everything has been done, while warning that the measures will take time to have an effect. Internal Administration Minister Luís Neves defended the police action, which had the support of the PSD and Chega. The opposition has criticised Montenegro's silence, since he has had no public agenda since 16 October, skipped the Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday, 22 October, and that day posted on social media a visit to a school in the Aveiro district that had not been announced beforehand. The prime minister is due to open Tuesday's debate at 15:00, and the vote on the general principles of the budget follows on Wednesday, 28 October.