News from afpop

Good afternoon to you all and welcome to the second Member Briefing of the year. I want to focus my chat with you this week on the new Member Portal of the afpop website. You will hopefully all now have registered for the new site, which has taken quite a lot longer to finalise than I had originally hoped and intended. Finally though the work is complete and the new Members’ area is working, with just one final addition of adding the ‘edit account’ function, which we have held back so as not to overwhelm the server and our database if everyone started to alter their details at the same time. Now that the site is operational though, you should expect to see an ’EDIT’ button displayed in the Account Details section. Remember that your username now is always your e-mail address that we hold on file for you, so if you change the e-mail please let us know as that is one thing you can’t edit in the Portal. 

It has been no easy task, as we knew would be the case, to create a whole new ‘back end’ to the website, reformat existing sections and create new ones, such as the edit function I mentioned and also others like the new payment options and events calendar. Particularly as this all had to be done in five languages, and everything had to be updated and thoroughly checked. The main requirement in all of this was to improve the security of the website and secure Members’ details, which has now been enhanced even further.

The work was spearheaded by our IT supervisor, Harry, who coordinated the project with the web designers and also in house, with a tremendous amount of cooperation and effort by the whole team who undertook editing and reformatting duties, reviewed the various languages and have also had to learn the new processes involved in using the website functionalities, all while still carrying on serving the needs of Members and maintaining the standards of service that you all expect. Obviously, this additional work has caused, to paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, “some (minor) disturbances in the force” from time to time, but I am delighted to report that the afpop Jedis were up to the task and any ‘disturbances’ were short and swiftly overcome. I wanted to also record my appreciation for the way that the Jedis undertook the task and thank them for once again surpassing all expectations. The force was strong with you all! (It also gives me the opportunity to shoehorn a couple of Star Wars references into this Briefing.)

Please remember that the Member Portal is now personalised and if the second Member would like to have their own access, they can do so by e-mailing the office and updating their file with their own e-mail address. Remember though that you have to be a Member, so if your spouse or partner would like to have access and isn’t an afpop Member, you can add them for just €15 and they can have personal access straight away to the Members’ area. Just contact the office for assistance.

For now though it only remains for me to thank those of you who have sent such encouraging comments about the site and thank you for your patience if you’ve experienced any problems getting access.

Until next time I wish you a pleasant weekend in the much-needed rain. Here is this week’s information and thankfully with no details of frauds or scams:

• Postal tariffs

CTT has announced an increase in mail prices by 6.9% from the 1^st of February. You can download the tariffs here.

• Household and e-Fatura communication deadlines

This is the time of the year where Members need to consult and update data relating to their household (Agregado Familiar) on the Finanças Portal. Changes can be made to any personal information that has occurred, such as new children, marriage, divorce etc, the deadline for which is the 17^th of February.

Hopefully you will have made several visits to the e-Fatura platform to validate expenses registered in 2024. If you haven't done so, please bear in mind that the deadline is until the 25th of February. Tax invoices for 2024 that are not validated/confirmed by the taxpayer will not be considered by the Tax Authority and this will have an impact on your IRS declaration.

Currently, the categories/sectors included in the e-Fatura where tax payers can deduct expenses are: General family expenses (others as supermarket, fuel expenses, etc…) Health, Education, Housing (Real Estate), Care Homes, Car Repair, Motorcycle Repair,  Catering and Accommodation, Hairdressers and Beauty Institutes, Veterinary Activities, Collective public transport (monthly passes or tickets), Gyms, Newspapers and Magazines and Domestic work.

The process is simple, and you only need to allocate the expense to the category correspondent (if it has not already been allocated automatically by the portal). 

• Rescue missions Madeira

Important news for visitors to Madeira. Tourists who choose not to follow safety rules may be held liable for the costs of rescue. Residents of the Autonomous Region of Madeira are exempt from paying these rates.

An ordinance (No. 72/2025) was published on the 9^th of January 2025, which will allow the Regional Civil Protection Service (IP-RAM) to charge the costs incurred in any search and rescue missions, using the helicopter (Multi Mission H35), from people who venture onto hiking trails not classified by the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation (IFCN), and/or trails considered passable, but which are temporarily or permanently closed.

Rescue missions will always be carried out when necessary. 

Before starting a hiking trail, pay attention to the warnings from local authorities and follow the safety recommendations. You can access this information on the IFCN website and/or on the ProcivMadeira App.

Since the 1^st of January 2025, all classified walking routes will now be charged a fee of €3 to non-residents of Madeira. Children up to 12 years old do not have to pay a fee. Payment can be made here: https://simplifica.madeira.gov.pt/services/78-82-259

• Parishes to be reinstated

Parliament approved the reinstatement of 302 parishes (Junta de Freguesia). These parishes were aggregated into 135 parish unions or extinguished and their territories distributed among other local authorities during the administrative reform in 2013. The proposal must be promulgated by the President of the Republic and published up to six months before the local elections. You can find the parishes on the PDF from page 12 (Anexo I) under the column of FREGUESIAS A RESTAURAR

The Radio Renascença website has a Map and search engine.

• Volta ao Algarve

The 51^stVolta ao Algarve, from 19^th to 23^rd of February 2025, will include many new features. Jonas Vingegaard, two-time winner of the Tour de France (2022 and 2023), has chosen the only Portuguese stage race on the UCI ProSeries circuit to start the 2025 season.

You can find information about the stages on the Volta ao Algarve website:

Portimão - Lagos 1^st Stage

Lagoa – Monchique 2^nd Stage

Vila Real de S.A. – Tavira 3^rd Stage

Albufeira – Faro 4^th Stage

Salir – Malhão 5^th Stage

• New Lisbon airport

The new Lisbon airport, to be named Luís de Camões Airport, is planned to be built in Alcochete, about 40 km south of Lisbon and will fully replace the current Humberto Delgado Airport. The construction of the new airport – as well as the associated investment – will be the responsibility of the concessionaire ANA. The Government instructed that ANA must seek to reduce the total cost of the project and comply with environmental legislation. ANA Aeroportos expects to open the new Lisbon airport in mid-2037, or, with optimisations to the schedule to be negotiated with the Government, at the end of 2036, according to their initial report. 

• AFPOP Presents… 

We are finally able to confirm details of the long-awaited information session in Cascais on the subject of Mental Health - "Spotting the signs, Dispelling the myths", in conjunction with the Alzheimer Portugal Association. The presentation will take place in Cascais on the 4th of April, in the morning time.

Places can be reserved by contacting Marisa on apoio@afpop.com 

• Satellite Offices 

If you need advice or assistance, wish to introduce a new Member to the Association, need to renew your subscription or just have a general query, please pass by and see us. We ask you to make an appointment and to inform us about your enquiry, so staff can come prepared to assist you. Please contact the afpop office to make an appointment on 282 458 509 or info@afpop.com.   

The next dates of the Satellites are:

• Almancil - Tuesday 28^th of January between 10h00 and 12h30 (premises of MEDAL Seguros)

• Lagos - Wednesday 29^th of January between 10h00 and 12h30 (premises of MediLagos on R. José Ferreira Canelas, which is behind the Câmara building)