Portugal Boosts Teen Reading with €30 Book Vouchers, e-Book Bonus Held Up

A government decision expected in the coming days promises a heftier voucher for printed books to every 17- and 18-year-old living in Portugal, yet the much-talked-about digital twin of the scheme remains stuck in the planning room. If everything goes to script, the paper coupon will jump from €20 to €30, while the proposed €60 “cheque e-book” still needs a technical and legal green light.

What’s on the table right now

• 2.3 M€ budget set aside for 2026

• 30 € coupon for each teen born in 2007 or 2008

• Physical voucher starts circulation in January

• Digital extension—worth another 30 €—under study

• Current platform SouLeitor.pt not yet ready for e-books

From pilot to nationwide roll-out

When the first edition closed last July, only 20 % of the available vouchers had actually been redeemed. Officials blamed a combination of late marketing, tight deadlines and the quirky rule that forced youngsters to spend the whole amount in one go. That last hurdle disappears this year: any unused change can finally stay in the teen’s wallet. The Ministry of Culture argues that the increase to €30 lines the aid up with “real shelf prices” in Portuguese bookstores.

How the coupon will work

Young readers register on SouLeitor.pt, authenticate with the Cartão de Cidadão or Chave Móvel Digital, and download a QR-code valid in roughly 700 independent and chain bookshops. There are still boundaries: textbooks, workbooks and imported editions continue to be barred, a decision the Ministry says is meant to “support the national publishing ecosystem”.

The e-book question that refuses to resolve

Parliament has already backed the concept of a separate electronic voucher—originally framed as a single €60 cheque but later clarified to mean €30 for paper + €30 for digital. The Culture Minister, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, told MPs the wording is “far from crystal-clear” and that the current back-office simply cannot produce QR codes that function inside Kindle, Kobo or Portuguese-owned reading apps. Her team has commissioned a fast-track audit of rights-management, VAT rules, and anti-piracy safeguards before taking the plunge.

Technical and legal knots to untangle

Platform engineers warn that each digital purchase would need a time-limited authentication layer, otherwise codes might circulate freely on social media. Meanwhile, publishers fret over territorial licensing, because many e-book contracts exclude the very Portuguese market the state wants to serve. Lawyers add a final headache: every alteration to the system triggers GDPR impact-assessments, delaying deployment for months.

Voices from the sector

The APEL trade group applauds the cash boost but insists even €30 will only cover “one hardback and a coffee”. President Miguel Pauseiro is pressing for a multi-year commitment that would let retailers plan bigger print runs. Student unions welcome the change-back rule, calling it “common sense at last”. Parents’ associations are largely silent—preoccupied with exam reforms—while teacher unions have parked the issue amid ongoing pay talks.

Why this matters for families

Portugal’s latest PISA literacy scores place the country just above the OECD mean, but the gap widens sharply in lower-income districts. Advocates argue the new voucher could save households roughly €60 a year if the digital leg is approved, a non-trivial figure when the average family spends only €36 on books annually. For rural municipalities, where the closest bookshop may be a 40-minute drive, the e-book top-up could be the true game-changer.

The road ahead

Barring last-minute snags, printed coupons should be ready to download before schools reopen in January. A progress report on the e-book variant is expected by spring, after the budget law formally kicks in. Until then, publishers, coders and civil servants will be racing to turn a well-intentioned line in the Orçamento do Estado into an experience that works as smoothly on a dusty paperback shelf as it does on a backlit screen.