The Government has urged Portuguese police forces to work with local municipalities to identify vacant properties at risk of unlawful occupation in order to prevent squatting, according to the draft law setting out criminal policy for 2025–2027.
In the proposal approved by the Council of Ministers on Friday, 20th February, and subsequently sent to parliament, seen by journalists on Monday, 23rd February, the Government states that “security forces and services shall develop and implement, in coordination with inter-municipal bodies and municipalities, actions to prevent and monitor the crime of unlawful occupation of immovable property” (including buildings and houses).
These actions include the “identification of vacant or apparently abandoned properties liable to improper occupation”, “coordination with social services and public and municipal housing bodies where situations of social vulnerability are involved”, and the “sharing of relevant information between public entities” regarding the phenomenon.
Included in the Government’s draft legislation is a desire to put prisoners to work clearing scrubland and forests as part of prison labour to help prevent wildfires.
In a section dedicated to forest-fire prevention, the executive stipulates that the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP), in coordination with prisons, shall develop and implement social reintegration and prison work programmes, in accordance with the law, involving activities of public utility, including the clearing, maintenance and improvement of land, woodland and forest areas.
Other listed activities include the “reconstruction, rehabilitation and recovery of natural spaces, infrastructure and equipment affected by fires” and the “implementation of collective risk-prevention and civil-protection actions”.
Violent crime, domestic violence and corruption remain priority offences under the Criminal Policy Law compared with the 2023–2025 framework, while tackling hate crime, sabotage or attacks on critical infrastructure, and breaches of sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, are among the main new additions. The crime bill must still be debated and approved by parliament, and may yet be amended.
Source: LUSA
