The wildfires that have broken out in Portugal throughout this year have already consumed more than 2% of the national territory, leaving a trail of destruction across forests and urban areas. 2025 is already considered one of the worst years ever in terms of burnt area. It was in this context that the Government of Montenegro decided to approve a decree granting a set of supports for housing, businesses, municipalities, and farmers. In addition, exceptional public procurement measures were introduced to accelerate works and construction projects. We explain everything here with legal grounds.

Following the rural wildfires that struck Portugal, the Government decided to approve Decree-Law No. 98-A/2025, of August 24, which aims to provide various supports across different areas, “that, on the one hand, mitigate the negative consequences of the fires and, on the other hand, enable a faster and more effective recovery of the affected territories,” begins by explaining Ricardo Maia Magalhães, partner at Cerejeira Namora Marinho Falcão, Lawyers, in this article prepared for idealista/news.

Wildfires in Portugal
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These are the supports for homes affected by the fires

In the housing area, the lawyer highlights the following measures approved by the Government and published in the Official Gazette at the end of August:

  • Support for construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, expansion, demolition, acquisition, and rental of properties intended for permanent residence, affected by the fires. There is also assistance for “their furnishing, as well as the supply of the necessary equipment for the said properties, including basic furniture, essential appliances, and household utensils indispensable for habitability, as well as urgent and temporary accommodation (also covering legalized constructions or those susceptible to legalization),” the decree states;
  • “The construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, expansion, acquisition, or rental of housing intended for permanent residence affected by the fires is carried out (…) by the local authorities or by the respective owners, within two years from the date of notification of the approval of the application by the territorially competent CCDR, IP, unless the non-compliance is not attributable to the beneficiary of the support,” it reads;
  • “An extension of up to 10% of the building area and the height of the original building façade is permitted, provided that the project demonstrates the necessity of such to ensure the correction of poor safety, sanitation, thermal efficiency, or accessibility conditions of the building, without prejudice to the directly applicable land management instruments.”

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Municipalities with 85% support for repairing public infrastructure

Regarding support for the replacement and repair of infrastructure and public equipment of local authorities and the public business sector, the same decree provided, as emphasized by Ricardo Maia Magalhães:

  • The opening of applications to the Municipal Emergency Fund, to support the replacement and repair of infrastructure and public equipment of local authorities and intermunicipal communities supporting populations that have been destroyed by rural fires;
  • The central administration’s financial participation may reach up to 85% of the total respective costs, without applying any limits.

Public works contracts
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What are the exceptional public procurement measures?

In terms of public procurement, the same decree-law introduced a set of exceptional measures aimed at speeding up the conclusion of public contracts for public works, leasing or acquisition of movable goods, or acquisition of services related to damages caused by rural fires.

According to Article 35 of the decree, the exceptional measures outlined apply to public procurement procedures under the responsibility of the direct and indirect administration of the State, including the public business sector, and local administration.

One of the public procurement measures, related to the recovery of fire damage, “is materialized by raising the thresholds up to which the administration may resort to direct award and prior consultation procedures, which now correspond to the values set out in Article 4 of Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of February 26, 2014, instead of those in Articles 19 and 20 of the Public Procurement Code (CCP),” explains the partner at Cerejeira Namora Marinho Falcão.

Furthermore, Article 37 of the decree-law provides for the repeal of the limitations on the choice of entities invited in direct award and prior consultation procedures foreseen in the CCP. However, when the procedure refers to the conclusion of public works contracts, there are limits:

  • Each contractor is limited to a maximum of 5 direct awards;
  • Each direct award may only include up to a maximum of 20 housing units subject to reconstruction or rehabilitation.

“The same decree also includes measures relating to expenditure authorization and administrative authorization, which are now subject to tacit approvals, as a way of promoting greater speed in this area,” the lawyer further adds.