What counts as a day when visiting Portugal?

[cj807 (Chris J)]

The conflict between the Regulations (quoted in the previous post) and the 2 year validity of the first card comes up in these forums now and again. See for example:

7 days during first year or 14 days during first two years?

If these regulations are taken literally this would mean the stay requirements are completely out of sync with the card validities. E.g. you could show up to renew your 2 year card having stayed only 7 days and say you’ll stay 14 days in the 3rd year per the regulations! Has anyone actually been denied renewal for spending 14 days during their first card’s 2 year validity but NOT 7 days during the 1st year of that?