According to the minister, the second edition of the book-check program will be launched by the end of the year – as had already been announced before – “but the operationalization of membership” will be from January.
The second edition of the book-check program will start in January and the value will rise from 20 to 30 euros, the Minister of Culture, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, revealed this Tuesday in parliament.
In a parliamentary hearing on the proposed State Budget law for 2026, Margarida Balseiro Lopes said that the value of the book voucher – a voucher for young people to use when purchasing books in bookstores – “it’s low” which will therefore increase by 50% to 30 euros.
According to the minister, the second edition of the book-check program will be launched by the end of the year – as had already been announced before – “but the operationalization of membership” will be from January.
“As important as” the increase to 30 euros, Margarida Balseiro Lopes said that “technical problems need to be resolved”why “there were several constraints” and tests are being carried out to improve the platform for issuing book cheques.
According to the explanatory note on the 2026 State Budget for the area of Culture, the second edition of the book-check program will have a budget of 2.3 million euros.
The first edition of the book voucher program ran until July 15, with more than 47 thousand vouchers being issued, with an execution rate of 20%, according to preliminary data from the General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries (DGLAB) released in July.
In July, at the Book 2.0 meeting promoted by the Portuguese Association of Editors and Booksellers, Margarida Balseiro Lopes admitted that it would have to be done “a greater effort to publicize this measure, so that it reaches more young people, in more places, from the north to the south of the country“.
Margarida Balseiro Lopes was speaking in parliament as part of the specialized assessment of the State Budget Law Proposal for 2026, in the Budget, Finance and Public Administration Committee, with the Culture, Communication, Youth and Sports Committee.
