Municipal assemblies will now be able to declare the public utility of expropriations promoted by local government, a power that was previously unavailable to them in this context.

Until now, municipal assemblies could already declare the public utility of expropriations related to the implementation of urbanisation or detailed plans, as well as in situations covered by the special expropriation and administrative easement regime for projects under the Economic and Social Stabilisation Programme and the Recovery and Resilience Plan. With this change, municipal assemblies will also be able to do so when the expropriation is initiated by local government itself.

This alteration is introduced by Decree-Law no. 160/2026 of 4 August, and aims to strengthen local autonomy, streamline expropriation procedures, and above all bring decision-making closer to those who know the territory, promoting solutions tailored to each municipality’s reality.

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[Photograph by: Anna Dziubinska, available at unsplash.com]