Can AI fire you? Portugal's parliament votes this week.

Last week, Portugal celebrated a $10 billion AI campus. This week, parliament debates whether AI should be allowed to fire you. It's Wednesday, 17 June. Twenty-five degrees. Portugal play DR Congo at 6pm. Here's what you need to know.

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PORTUGAL WANTS TO BAN EMPLOYERS FROM USING AI TO FIRE WORKERS. PARLIAMENT DEBATES IT THIS WEEK.

Bloco de Esquerda has proposed a bill banning any dismissal, suspension, or termination of employment that is not ultimately decided by a human being. Even where AI or automated decision-making systems are used in the workplace, the final call on someone's job must come from a person. The proposal goes to parliamentary debate this week as part of the broader Trabalho XXI labour reform package.

The timing creates an interesting contradiction. Last week, this newsletter reported that Microsoft is spending $10 billion on an AI campus at Sines, positioning Portugal as Europe's AI capital. This week, Portuguese lawmakers are debating whether that same technology should be prohibited from making employment decisions. Portugal is building the infrastructure for AI while simultaneously drawing legal lines around what AI can do to workers. Both positions may be right.

The bill is part of a broader package of labour law proposals from BE. The party argues that algorithmic management, where software decides who gets shifts, who gets promoted, and who gets fired, is already happening in Portugal's gig economy and logistics sector. TVDE drivers, warehouse workers, and platform-based delivery riders are the most directly affected. The proposal would require a human decision-maker in every disciplinary and dismissal process, regardless of whether AI was involved in the assessment.

Whether the bill passes depends on the parliamentary maths. BE holds 5 seats. The PS (78 seats) has signalled interest in AI regulation but hasn't committed to this specific text. PSD and CDS-PP, who hold the governing majority with 80 seats, have generally opposed additional labour protections during the Trabalho XXI negotiations. Chega's position is unclear.

For expats working in Portugal, the practical implications depend on your employer. If you work for a Portuguese company that uses automated HR systems, scheduling algorithms, or performance-based AI assessments, the bill would require that any adverse employment decision still pass through a human. If you're a freelancer or contractor, the bill doesn't apply directly, but the direction of travel is clear: Portugal is moving toward stronger worker protections against automated decision-making.

The EU's AI Act, which enters full enforcement in 2027, already classifies employment-related AI as "high risk" and requires human oversight. The BE proposal goes further by creating an outright ban on AI-only dismissals at national level.

Bottom line: Portugal is building Europe's AI hub and debating whether AI can fire you, in the same month. The bill may not pass in its current form, but the question it raises is one every country with a growing AI sector will eventually have to answer.

⚡ QUICK HITS

House prices more than doubled in 157 Portuguese regions since 2017. The Bank of Portugal's June Economic Bulletin, published yesterday, shows prices in Sintra, Seixal, Barreiro, Moita, and Setúbal increased over 200% between 2017 and 2025. Portuguese consumers expect another 7% rise in the next 12 months, nearly double the 3.7% EU average. The central bank describes "a widespread perception that the current moment is favourable for investment."

An armed gang robbed a famous Lisbon restaurateur at gunpoint outside his restaurant last week. Vasco Rodrigues, owner of Júlio dos Caracóis, was held at gunpoint by four men after closing. They took his gold medallion and bracelets. A neighbour's shouts scared them off before they took his rings. The raid was planned: they used a car stolen the week before. Five suspects, one at the wheel. PSP launched its "Safe Summer" operation on Monday with increased patrols across nightlife districts and tourist areas. The timing speaks for itself.

The GNR is deploying 28 surveillance drones for wildfire detection this summer. The unmanned aircraft, equipped with cameras, will be used throughout fire season for early detection and monitoring of rural wildfires. Portugal's 2025 fire season burned over 200,000 hectares. GALP is separately investing €2.7 million in 25 fire stations across the mainland and the Azores. Summer is here. So is fire season.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

BETTINA & NICCOLÒ CORALLO (PRÍNCIPE REAL)

Before the match. Before the bar. Before the noise and the crowd and the third Super Bock. Go to Rua da Escola Politécnica, opposite the Jardim do Príncipe Real, and step into a shop the size of a living room that smells like the best decision you'll make today.

Bettina & Niccolò Corallo is a chocolate and coffee shop where everything comes from the family's own plantation on the island of Príncipe, in the former Portuguese colony of São Tomé e Príncipe. Claudio Corallo, an Italian, started producing coffee in Zaire (now the DRC, coincidentally tonight's opponents) before political instability in the 1990s forced the family to São Tomé. Bettina opened the first Lisbon shop in 2008. Her sons Niccolò and Amadeo run the counter now. The coffee is roasted on the premises from beans grown on their own estate. The chocolate is made from their own cacao. The supply chain is literally: plantation, family, your cup.

There is no milk chocolate. Only dark. The minimum is 75% cacao. The 100% bar (no sugar, no milk, nothing but cacao) is the one that divides people: intense, bitter, and the kind of flavour that either converts you immediately or sends you running. The 70% with orange from Calabria or hazelnuts from Piedmont is the entry point for everyone else. The chocolate sorbet (100% chocolate, water, and sugar) is the order for a warm June afternoon. The mochaccino (cappuccino with chocolate) is the order for when you can't choose between coffee and chocolate and shouldn't have to.

The space is tiny. A couple of tables, a counter, and shelves of chocolate bars. On a Saturday it gets cramped. On a Wednesday afternoon before a World Cup match, you might have the room to yourself.

→ Coffee and chocolate from the family's own plantation. Find them here ←

Príncipe Real, on Rua da Escola Politécnica, opposite the garden.

Insider tip: Order the cold brew if it's warm. Order the mochaccino if it's not. Buy a bar of the 70% with orange to take home. You will eat it before you reach the garden.

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See you tomorrow morning.