Portugal Advances Six-Month Fully Paid Parental Leave After 42K Petition

Families watching the Portuguese Parliament were given fresh momentum this week: lawmakers have reopened the long-stalled debate on extending parental leave after a grassroots petition gathered more than 42,000 signatures. The measure that just cleared its first hurdle would grant 180 days at 100% pay to new parents, loosening today’s complex rules and, supporters argue, finally putting Portugal in line with northern-European standards.

Why it matters at a glance

• 42,180 citizens signed the initiative, far above the 20,000 required to force parliamentary debate.

• Proposal delivers six consecutive months of fully paid leave, whether or not parents split the time.

• Implementation is tied to the State Budget for 2027, pushing the financial impact beyond the current fiscal cycle.

• Major parties from left to far right voted “yes” in principle; PSD and CDS-PP abstained.

• Government’s own labour-law package still backs full pay only if leave is shared, setting the stage for negotiations.

A petition that keeps coming back

The latest citizen bill is not a one-off. A nearly identical text won initial approval in 2024 but died when Parliament dissolved the following spring. This time, campaigners tightened their legal language, inserted an explicit budget clause, and toured maternity wards, schools and social media to reach the signature threshold in barely three months. Their central demand—equal, non-transferable rights for both parents—echoes the “daddy quota” schemes now common in the Nordics.

Counting the cost – and the benefits

Finance ministry models put an earlier version of the reform at €400 M a year, a figure opponents revisit frequently. Yet advocates point to wider gains: longer bonding time improves early-childhood health, reduces future healthcare outlays and boosts female labour participation when fathers take real time off. Studies from Finland, Spain and Norway show that fathers who take leave remain more involved in schooling and housework long after the official period ends.

Party lines and parliamentary arithmetic

Portugal’s fragmented chamber produced an unusual voting map. The PS, BE, PAN, PCP, Livre, IL and Chega all pressed the green button, arguing that demographic decline and the rising cost of living make a stronger welfare net essential. PSD and CDS-PP, now leading the minority government, sat out the first vote but insist the issue will be absorbed into a broader labour-reform package due later this year. Behind the scenes, centrist deputies worry about “crowding out” other social programmes if the leave plan goes through unchanged.

Employers, unions and academics weigh in

Business groups say replacing skilled staff for half a year is tough, especially for SMEs outside Lisbon and Porto. They want tax credits or wage subsidies to cover stand-ins. The main union federations call those fears overblown, citing countries where employment rates for women climbed after generous leave became universal. Sociologist Virgínia Ferreira counters ministerial warnings about job losses: “The real driver of female unemployment is not leave length but the lack of affordable childcare at the end of it.”

How Portugal stacks up in Europe

Across the EU, the average mother can take 119 paid days, the average father just 42. Spain recently harmonised both entitlements at 17 weeks fully paid and will add flexible weeks by 2030. Finland already offers each parent 160 days, two-thirds of them non-transferable. Portugal’s current framework—120 or 150 days paid at 80 % and 100 % only if the couple splits the final month—lags behind these benchmarks. The citizen proposal would vault Portugal into the upper quartile for duration, though not necessarily for gender parity, critics argue.

What comes next – and what parents should watch

Parliament’s Labour, Social Security and Inclusion Committee now has 60 days to craft amendments. MPs must square the plan with the Budget Framework Law and the EU directive on work-life balance that obliges member states to protect fathers’ leave. Government negotiators hint they could accept the six-month term if at least 60 days are ring-fenced for each parent. A final plenary vote is pencilled in before the summer recess, meaning expectant couples could learn by autumn whether future newborns will qualify for the new regime. Until then, the debate will test Portugal’s willingness to put a price tag on family time.