News Porto.

Emerging from lockdowns and encountering sunshiny days (Spring is here!) is evermore blissful and urges to soul and body soothing activities. The municipal programmes Days with Energy (Dias com Energia) and Sundays in Shape (Domingos em Forma) resume this weekend, on 8 and 9 May. Although with no limits in the number of participants per activity, registrations are mandatory.

The Porto Social Summit starting point was the formal sitting at Porto City Hall, where Mayor Rui Moreira handed over the Keys of the city to the highest representatives of the European Union, David Maria Sassoli, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, before the opening of the Social Summit, this afternoon, at Porto Customs Building. Rui Moreira stated that the city is “very honoured with the presence of the European Union Highest Representatives, today, in Porto and in our town hall."

At The European Union Social Summit is held between today and Saturday. A few minutes earlier to the stroke of eleven am, the highest representatives of the European Union will be welcomed at Porto City Hall, where they will receive the Keys of the city of Porto by Mayor Rui Moreira.

The Cities Social Summit Conference, themed “Delivering social rights and supporting an inclusive recovery”, is being held today in an online format, with the participation of the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira in the first speakers’ panel. Rui Moreira explained that the Portuguese Government is still too dominated by centralism as regards the drafting of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), and enhanced the need to achieve a “real” decentralisation.

The second edition of Porto Photography Biennale is held between 14 May and 27 June. It will gather 46 artists and it will bring to the city 19 exhibitions, out of which 15 will take to spaces in the Invicta, one in Lisbon and three will be held in a virtual format. All events are entrance free.

Amid the pandemic, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP) celebrates medical training and health research. The Graduation Day of the Faculty of Medicine, which took place on 5th May, is a milestone of the medical academic life, and was marked with an in-person and online tribute to circa 600 PhDs, Masters and graduates, as well as academics that are now full professors.

The National Institute for Statistics collected already circa 3.7 million responses to the censuses, which corresponds to over 80% of the households. The deadline to register household information under the Census project (3 May) has been extended until 31 May, so that all citizens can complete the register online.

Porto City Hall has already invested circa 1 million euros to support historical shops, under the Porto de Tradição Municipal Fund to financially assist establishments and shops, regarding not only conservation and restoration projects, but also investment in modernisation and innovation that would guarantee business sustainability.

Porto City Hall is honouring the 658 municipal workers that have been serving the Municipality of Porto for 25 or more years. It is a way of paying tribute for the way in which they have shown solidarity and commitment to the public service. This initiative is named “Clube de Prata” (“Silver Club) and was first implemented by Porto City hall in 2014, by the team of Mayor Rui Moreira. Since that time, this event is highly regarded both by the workers and the head offices.

Starting today, and until 6 May, the Serralves Foundation holds in-person and videoconference meetings with cultural agents, experts, academics and representatives of the artistic and cultural sector, as well as European leaders, with the main purpose of discussing and debating the impact of culture on social, economic and territorial cohesion in Europe.