Taking home a generic, characterless souvenir from a visit to Cascais may become more difficult in the future. In the town, the debate around licenciamento zero (zero licensing) is back, with the president of the Cascais and Estoril Parish Council, Francisco Kreye, launching a public petition to halt what he describes as the “proliferation” of souvenir shops and other businesses with no real activity in the historic centre.
The initiative is available on the Petição Pública platform and has already passed 3,600 signatures – it needs 7,500 to reach Parliament. Residents and shopkeepers are joining the movement, arguing that these establishments are causing the town to lose its identity.
The petition calls for a review of the zero-licensing regime, created in 2011 under the Simplex programme to speed up commercial openings through a simple prior communication, without municipal assessment. According to the councillor, this mechanism, designed to make life easier for small business owners, has ended up opening the door to fictitious activities that occupy entire shops without any real movement.
“A shop that doesn’t sell. A restaurant that doesn’t serve. These spaces are not real commerce and they are degrading our historic centres”, writes Francisco Kreye on his social media, defending the return of inspection powers to local authorities in order to control a phenomenon which, he says, is pushing out traditional trade and local identity. He stresses that the aim is not to go back to drawn-out procedures or to block those who want to work, but to restore a balance he believes has been lost.
The mayor of Cascais, Nuno Piteira Lopes, has already expressed his intention to sign the petition, and Francisco Kreye believes other local leaders will do the same, in what he describes as a “cross-cutting” cause – one that has also been debated in other cities. Lisbon and Porto have voiced similar criticisms of zero licensing in recent years, underlining the difficulty of controlling front businesses that occupy prime spaces without contributing to the real life of the city.
With the 7,500-signature target in sight, Francisco Kreye says he will deliver the document to Assembleia da República, along with a request to schedule a parliamentary debate.
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