Basic banking is part of the problem. It’s because of basic banking that forced-banking (your loss of autonomy) becomes possible.
Basic banking in Belgium is much worse. What you are paying annually in Portugal for basic banking is a /monthly/ cost in Belgium.
Every single banking institution on the country has to offer it, no exceptions.
Even digital banks where customers cannot function without a recent Android? Even the expensive private banks that normally require a minimum balance of €100k?
In Belgium, there are banks that say “our application form to open a basic account is only on our website”, thus offline people (and Tor users) are excluded from those banks. There is (incidentally?) a Belgian bank that has a paper application form for a basic account, but then we are stuck with that bank. I doubt the digital banks offer basic accounts, but it might be interesting to try to force one of them to open a basic account without using their shitty app.
An individual using such an account can receive their pension, withdraw all of it on the day it is deposited, and forget about it. It is that simple. Many older or people that distrust banks do as such.
Belgium banned all cash transactions on basic accounts. So Belgians pay about 10× more for a crippled purely cashless service. When Belgians are ultimately finally forced to lick the boots of a bank, perhaps Portugal is a lesser of evils to open a basic account. I suppose a Belgian could use an ATM in Belgium to draw money from a Portuguese basic account?
Is it possible to deposit cash into a basic account in Portugal?