Portugal’s Council of Ministers approved the National Artificial Intelligence Agenda (ANIA) 2026–2030 on 8 January 2026 (Resolution 2/2026, in force from 9 January 2026), backed by over €400 million in investment, primarily from EU structural funds. ANIA replaces and supersedes earlier AI Portugal 2030 commitments with a formally binding government resolution.
ANIA is organised around four strategic pillars: (1) Infrastructure and Data; (2) Innovation and Adoption; (3) Talent and Skills; (4) Responsibility and Ethics. The Talent and Skills pillar includes: a National Framework for Intelligent Skills (QNCI) mapping current and emerging AI competencies; an accelerated AI training plan for public administration; and a national AI literacy awareness campaign targeted at the general public, scheduled for the first half of 2026. The Responsibility and Ethics pillar covers AI Act alignment, CNPD and ANACOM coordination, and algorithmic accountability.
Who it affects: Civil servants across Portuguese government — the accelerated public administration AI training plan is an explicit ANIA commitment, making this the first Portuguese policy instrument to specifically mandate civil servant AI training. The national AI literacy campaign targets all citizens.
What is notably missing: ANIA is a Council of Ministers resolution (binding on government) but does not impose employer training obligations on private-sector companies. No minimum AI competency standard for civil servants or timeline for completing training has been published with ANIA. The private-sector employer training obligation (dim 6) and worker rights dimensions remain unaddressed. School-level AI curriculum binding mandate is not included.
Secondary sources: https://www.plmj.com/en/knowledge/informative-notes/National-Artificial-Intelligence-Agenda-2026-2030/34274/ | https://www.mondaq.com/new-technology/1732726/national-artificial-intelligence-agenda-2026-2030 | https://macaubusiness.com/portugal-ai-literacy-awareness-initiative-planned-for-h1-2026