Portugal - June 2024

On 20 June, the Council of Ministers approved a new Anti-Corruption Agenda, a set of 32 measures developed by the Ministry of Justice. The measures focus on corruption prevention, including improving transparency in the relationship between state and private entities and individuals. The Agenda also includes measures to strengthen whistleblower protection in public procurement and proposes the creation of a “blacklist” of state suppliers who are prevented from accessing public contracts. Additionally, there are measures to fight corruption in the public sector, including to strengthen basic and secondary education in topics such as ethics and financial literacy to create a “demanding civil society in the face of corruption.” As a next step, the technical report underpinning the Agenda is open to public comment until 12 August. Portugal has struggled with high-level corruption and the 2023 EU Rule of Law report for Portugal noted that the application of rules on conflicts of interest for high-level parliamentary and government officials raises concerns.

Sources: Ministry of Justice (1), Ministry of Justice (2), Portuguese Government, Euractiv, Publico, International IDEA, European Commission