Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua readers once again issue a warning about what they consider to be a “unsustainable situation” in the Portuguese Teaching Abroad (EPE) network. After the letter sent to the Assembly of the Republic in November 2024, where they explained “the unpaid accumulation of functions” and the lack of a career, a new open letter, dated June 5, 2026, denounces that the reform proposal presented by the Government “goes against all recommendations and requests made” by professionals, adding a new level of dissatisfaction, because, explains the document, limitating the number of renewals of service commissions – the regime in which the role of Portuguese language reader is performed – and making them temporary, only renewable in the case of a positive evaluation, “would introduce a serious factor of structural instability in a network that should be based, instead, on continuity, given that the full exercise of the functions of Reader requires years of professional, institutional and human investment”.
DN spoke to reader Ana Rita Sousa, currently in Bucharest, who summarized the dominant feeling: “It is with great surprise – and bad surprise – that we face this first proposal from the Government.”
The teacher recalls that the dialogue with Camões, IP, had been going on for two years and there was an expectation of “stabilization, remuneration enhancement and recognition of accumulated functions”. Instead, it states, the new regime prevents her from “running for the same position” she already held, forcing forced changes of country and family life.
The 2024 letter already warned that readers “they do not have any type of career in the Portuguese Public Administration, being hired on a two-year service commission”which generates “personal instability” and, at the end of each commission, risk of unemployment. The new government proposal, according to Ana Rita Sousa, worsens the scenario.
“I would not be allowed to renew my commission in 2027. I would have to take entrance exams again and I would not be able to return to Bucharest for four years”reports.
Another critical point is remuneration. In 2024, readers reported that salary rates – around two thousand euros – were “immensely inadequate”, equating highly qualified professionals with “trainee assistants”.
Ana Rita Sousa confirms that “since 2002 there has been no salary update. We receive less than someone who works as a reader in Portugal”.
The residence allowance, worth around 1500 euros, is described as insufficient for countries with high costs, such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom or Korea. And the 2026 proposal, according to readers, eliminates this subsidy, integrating it in some way into the base salary, which will leave many “to lose”, mainly due to the tax impact, due to the change in the IRS level that it may involve.
The accumulation of functions is another central axis of the demands. The 2024 charter describes a framework of responsibilities that goes far beyond teaching, including the management of cultural centers, coordination of education networks, diplomatic representation, organization of exams and cultural programming.
“There are readers that accumulate five or more functions, some more than 200 km away”the document reads. Ana Rita Sousa confirms: “We manage cultural plans, language centers, education networks, exams, everything. And none of this is remunerated.”
The strategic dimension of the Portuguese language is also highlighted. The 2024 letter reminds that readers are “spokespeople for Lusofonia”, essential for the international projection of the language. Ana Rita Sousa reinforces the idea that “Portuguese could rival Spanish. But no government invests. Portugal invests less than countries like Hungary or Slovenia”. And he clarifies that “What makes a language international is not the native speakers, it is the second language speakers. And we don’t even know how many there are.”
The Government’s proposal will be discussed with unions on June 15, but readers fear that the process will move forward without substantial changes. “If the refusal to pay the residence allowance is confirmed, a good number of us will leave”, warns Ana Rita Sousa. The 2026 letter, sent to journalists and political decision-makers, concludes that the measures presented “compromise the continuity of the network and Portuguese foreign policy itself”.
Between the lack of a career, salary stagnation, accumulation of functions and permanent instability, Camões readers say that the proposed reformNot only does it fail to resolve old problems, it also threatens to worsen the human resources crisis in one of the central instruments of Portuguese cultural diplomacy. This Government reform, however, had been announced in Parliament, on April 7, by the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, who used the expression “revolution” to describe what he intended to do in teaching Portuguese abroad.
For now, the unions representing EPE network readers will be received by Paulo Rangel on June 15, to hear their demands.
In the June 5 document, readers call for their concerns to be “object of thoughtful reflection and constructive and participated dialogue, through a process of effective consultation of the professionals directly involved”.
“We reiterate our full availability to participate in a constructive debate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the management of Camões, IP, with the parliamentary groups represented in the Assembly of the Republic, with trade union organizations and other entities with responsibility in this matter”, highlights the document.
DN contacted the president of Camões, Florbela Paraíba, to find out what the institute’s position would be in light of readers’ concerns, who responded that the matter is “being the subject of a negotiation process between the administration and the unions”, so only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be able to provide any type of clarification.
