“Tolerance is granted to civil servants who perform public functions in direct State administration services, and in public institutes on the 24th and 31st of December 2024”, says the order, signed by the Prime Minister and which will be published on Thursday in the Official Gazette.

In this order, Luís Montenegro justifies the extra holidays considering that it is “traditional for many people to travel outside their places of residence during the Christmas and New Year period, with a view to holding family gatherings”.

Montenegro also says that “the practice that has been followed over the years” and “the existing tradition of granting time tolerance, at this time, in non-essential public services”.

In relation to these two optional holidays, the exception is, as usual, “services and bodies that, for reasons of public interest, must remain in operation during this period, under terms to be defined by the competent member of the Government”.