Madeira News Blog

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Becky … ‘Cruise ship silhouettes’

From vines to wines … Pete

I think you requested ‘meat on the bone’ more detail of the austerity budget for citizens / residents. Well, this is a good starting point. I am sure more detail, guidance will be on its way from the Government. Paul.

PORTUGAL – STABILITY AND GROWTH PROGRAMME 2010-2013

Memo from the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration – 08 March 2010.

The memo includes:

-Reduction of the General Government deficit and correction of the public debt growth by 2013

-The compensation of employees expenditure will be reduced to 10% of GDP in 2013, through a decrease of at least 100 million Euros per year of the overall amount of this expenditure. This goal will be achieved through:

• the reinforced implementation of the “at least two out for one in” rule;

• a policy of strong wage constraints

Social benefits will be reduced from 21.9% of GDP in 2009 to 21.4% of GDP in 2013.

Intermediate consumption expenditure

• Definition of outsourcing expenditure ceilings;

• Definition of a ceiling for expenditure on military equipment, through

40% reduction in the amount defined in the LPM (Military Funding Programme); not establishing any new commitments for military equipment purchasing.

• Reduction and rationalisation of current operating expenditure based, in particular, on the streamlining of public procurement and shared services processes. Link to full memo

Two from Elaine (East) : Interesting  Festa da Flor poster.  HERE   

Helicopter flight anyone? HERE

From Tom : Expresso newspaper 6 of March Economy section – interview with one of the richest men of Portugal.

Alexandre Soares Dos Santos – owner of Pingo Doce stores all around Globe including Poland which he said is the Motor and tiger of arising Markets in Europe. He is there with 600 stores named Biedronka and he is going to open next 800. 60% of net profit of Grupo Jeronimo Martins, comes from Poland’s business. He said Russia and Ukraine are too corrupted to even think for him to invest.

On the home political front he said : The Prime-minister does not have psychological conditions to govern Portugal. Alexandre Soares fears an aggravation of the crisis with the increase of the unemployment and laments the situation. In a few months here (in Portugal) there will be  no government." Very strong statement of the Man who knows.

Thanks a lot Paul, Elaine, Tom and Pete for the above links and articles.

Many thanks to Elaine once again for yesterday’s top news stories :

DIÁRIO 18/03/2010

FRONT PAGE NEWS

CDS want an investigation into the tragedy. Despite challenges by the opposition parties, the PSD has refused to establish a committee of inquiry into the tragedy of February 20th. The CDS-PP have formalized the request which requires 10 signatures from the opposition. The committee would assess responsibilities in the tragedy, especially licensing and building in areas of risk. The CDS think it is now time to take stock of the causes and consequences of the tragedy, especially to prevent the repetition of various situations. The main causes were: lack of planning and land management, improper occupation of land, construction on the banks and over the beds of streams and uncleared streams. The effects of the storms were exacerbated by insufficient afforestation of slopes and the dumping of earth and debris into waterways. The CDS propose immediate support to small businesses and families affected by the storms, cleaning streams and a review of the Municipal Master Plans and the preparation of plans for the coastline.

Taiwan wants to give money to Madeira but does not know whom to send it to. The solidarity has caused a diplomatic embarrassment as there is no representation of Taiwan in Portugal. The Portuguese Government does not want to anger China and does not want to offend Taiwan and refuse aid. If Taiwan gave money directly to Madeira, it would assume that these two regions are of similar status. (China considers Taiwan part of Chinese territory and not an independent state). The solution appears to be for the cheque to be given directly to Madeiran deputies in the Assembly of the Republic and then the funds distributed to the regional institutions.

MADEIRA

Crack could mean collapse. A fissure opened in a wall that supports land near the Business Park in Garachico in the parish of Estreito de Câmara de Lobos. The February rains have deepened the fissure and there could be subsidence of earth, trees and rocks if there are more episodes of intense rain. A landslide caused some damage a few days ago. The situation is being monitored by the council, Madeira Business Park and the Regional Secretariat for Social Infrastructure.

ECONOMY

Port news. The container ship BBC Scotland starts today replacing the Apollo on the Lisbon-Madeira route. The ship was built in China in 2002 and belongs to the shipowner Briese Schiffahrt. The ship is 100.58 metres long, 16.6 metres wide and has a draft of 6.4 metres. It has a gross tonnage of 4,090 tonnes and can carry 390 20-foot containers. Top speed is 15 knots, it requires a 15-strong crew and navigates under the British flag. The Lobo Marinho will sail two extra trips between Funchal and Porto Santo this weekend to increase availability for the ‘XIV Rally Porto Santo Line’. The extra trips are on Friday and Sunday as the rally takes place on the 19 – 20 March. — Is gross tonnage high for a ship with a volume of 10,685 cubic metres? (Diario original – arqueação bruta de 4.090 toneladas).

Madeira is selling well for Easter. Cape Verde and Disney in Paris are popular Easter holiday packages sold to the Portuguese public. There has a been slightly higher demand for Easter holiday tourism than in 2009. Both the Azores and Madeira are selling well. For long-haul, the Caribbean and Brazil remain the most sought after destinations. Tunisia and Egypt are also popular.

Choupana Hills Resort leads the nominations for the World Travel Awards. The WTA are the ‘oscars’ of tourism according to The Wall Street Journal. The Choupana Hills Resort leads the Portuguese nominations as it is a candidate in five categories and The Vine and Tivoli Madeira have three nominations. There are in total about 5,000 entries (airlines, tour operators, car rental firms, destinations and new hotels) from 162 countries. There are several Portuguese nominations. TAP is one of 10 airline candidates. Lisbon is nominated in four categories – Best Destination, Best Destination for City Breaks, Best Cruise Destination and Best Cruise Port. Several luxury hotels in the Algarve and some hotels in Madeira are also candidates.

UPDATE

Martins arrested in Brazil.  Líbano Martins is detained in Brazil for the suspected abduction and homicide of the Porto Santo businessman Guilherme Alves. Martins was detained on January 22nd and is in custody awaiting an extradition process. The alleged three co-perpetrators of the crime carried out in July 2009 were arrested a few days after it was committed. 

JORNAL DA MADEIRA

ECONOMY

Daily flight to Ponta Delgada.  The first SATA flight between Funchal and Ponta Delgada using the new Bombardier Q400 aircraft will be on Saturday. There will be initially two flights per week increasing to a daily flight in July and August. These aircraft have half the capacity of the current Airbus A320 but have lower costs, especially in fuel consumption. SATA hope to increase passenger numbers travelling between Madeira and the Canary Islands to the Azores and on the profitable North America routes. They also hope to transport more tourists on the Ponta Delgada / Funchal / Faro / Ponta Delgada link.

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Father’s day – Facing the new challenges. The family of today, has a mother and father of equal competencies. Both need to be alert to modern dangers.

Today’s main news headline : Imprisonment of Martins in doubt – The Justice Police, quoting a note from the Minister for External Relations for Brazil, revealed the capture and detention of the alleged leader of the gang that kidnapped and killed Guilherme Alves. But the Federal Police of Baía denied to the Diário the imprisonment of Martins, saying that on the 22nd January he was just allowed extradition request [?]. The judiciary says that it is going to clarify the situation. There are now uncertainties about the arrest of José Martins, alleged gang leader in the kidnap and murder of the elderly Porto Santo businessman last year. The Brazilian Court has postponed the extradition order, and has not even confirmed the arrest. The Portuguese police, via Interpol, had applied for Martins to be extradited, and it seemed that had been accepted. What a mess … makings of an international incident here methinks if Martins  end up not being extradited, or was not arrested in the first place!

Unemployment bordering on fifteen thousand – Official data says that 14,984 are looking for work, and that constitutes an increase of 38.9% in a year. Only the Algarve is worse. In the Azores there is a clear downward trend. That’s the official version of events, so now as usual we just await the statement of Uncle Bertie, president of Madeira and the Social Democrat party, with their versions of the numbers of unemployed, predicted by Der this time to be between just 17 and 22 people.

Houses on ‘a knifes edge’ – In the high zone of Fundoa, there are houses in danger of imminent collapse. Residents, who have arranged safer lodgings, only go there during the day. Until now nobody [authority] has appeared to say what will happen in the future. I think this photo is up around Monte, and I saw a similar situation a couple of weeks ago around Boa Morte, many kilometres from Funchal, and it was even a bit scary driving past it. Still many places unvisited by the authorities it seems. This small island, at times, seems a lot bigger than many judge it to be.

The main sports headline today : Regional [Rally] starts today on Porto Santo – There are several candidates for the title. The Diário heard the plans of the 27 contestants. Special rally edition of the Diário.

If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link. All contributions much appreciated. 

Just announced, after the draw for the next round of the Europe League, that Benfica have drawn Liverpool, the first leg being in Lisbon. Liverpool won’t relish that after the last time they played Benfica in the Champions League. I think it was the year after Liverpool won it, that Benfica played pretty badly, but still managed to beat Liverpool home and away. I wait to be corrected …

"I nearly got caught out by a bogus email from Facebook the other day so beware. It is entitled something along the lines of "Facebook password reset confirmation customer support" and can do a lot of damage to your PC and steal your passwords". Jane. Thanks Jane, I got one too today, but luckily I saw your email first. Here the article about it on YAHOO

Thanks to Paul : Madeira and parts of the Continent on YELLOW alert today Friday: strong winds

Institute of Meteorology site: HERE                    Expresso: HERE

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