(24th September). Today’s main news headline : ‘Câmara Of Santana Promotes [Staff] Continually -  On the eve of abandoning the presidency, Carlos Pereira gives spectacular improvements to workers’. After 20 years in Santana, the president of the council is on his way out, out of favour with the PSD-M leader and president of Madeira, Alberto João Jardim. One of the favours has now put a subordinate on a higher salary than Pereira himself. He has promoted 3 staff seemingly just to give them a higher salary. It’s legal, but raises some policy questions. In January, Carlos Pereira signed an order to allocate €79 thousand of the council budget of 2009, for "the purposes" of Contracts, Careers and Remuneration. Of this €53,500 was for movements within pay scales of 55 council employees, and €10,000 was for performance bonuses. Normally movements in pay scales work on a points system, but a council president has the power to override this. Legal or not, the deals are to be seen as an appreciation of the president at the end of his mandate, and a ‘hot potato’ left for his successor. 

‘Customs Strike Opens ‘Green Route’ In The Airport – Funchal Customs yesterday registered 100% participation in the strike. And there remain two days without control’. The three day strike started yesterday, leaving airport checks non existent in terms of customs activity. Two officers were on duty, in order to meet minimum service levels, but aside from that the strike achieved 100% participation. Airport baggage was going through unchecked, even that from ‘risk countries’. In the main offices in Funchal, just the boss, his assistant, two cleaners, and a telephonist were present.  

The main front page photo today shows a group of cops on the move : ‘Police From Here Complain To Lisbon – President of the ASPP in Lisbon say that they are already receiving denunciations from the police of Madeira about alleged attempts to pressure by regional political powers’. The police complain to their trade union in Lisbon, but there is no documentation to prove the allegations that political power is being used to apply pressure. Paulo Rodrigues, president of the TU, says Madeira is not the only case, as other police forces in Portugal suffer similar pressure and political interference in attempts to control the police. He stresses that security is not a regionalized responsibility, and that it is therefore an area controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI), without any intervention permitted from the Regional Government. He cites as a very recent example, the order of president Jardim to the police, to stop the opposition PND political party entering Curral das Freiras, because he was attending an event there. "It is for the police not to fall into the trap of giving in to pressure", and if they are victims of exploitation, the union recommends that they make a complaint. The National Election Commission (CNE), commenting on the same case said "only for strict safety reasons that were concerned with public protection, could a political party be prevented from campaigning in a public place". A "landslide" could justify the conduct of the PSP in this situation, which, according to the PND, the party was prevented from campaigning in the Nun’s Valley. "I do not think that [landslide] has been the case, since there was no report of the evacuation of the Nun’s Valley", he added. He said he had not yet received a formal complaint regarding this incident, but had so far received 17 complaints relating to the national elections to be held here on Sunday. He expects that number to triple on Sunday. As regards the local elections on 11th October, he said 114 complaints had been received, with the PS socialists heading the count as complainers.

‘School Bus Pass Scalds In The Country And In The University’. This has been already covered recently on this blog, and is about the disparity in costs of bus passes for students, which seem to depend on several factors: social standing (financially), distance travelled, and the need for crossing between different bus zones.

In football : ‘Shalke 04 Waves €5 Million At Rúben Micael – The exit of the Nacional player in December seems inevitable’. The German club has already made an offer for the star Madeiran, and he could be on his way in January. Bit of a tenuous link here though, as Shalke are being financed through sponsorship by Gazprom, the biggest company in Russia and biggest gas supplier in the world, who are also the major shareholder in Zenith St. Petersburg, the club that Nacional knocked out of the qualifying game for the Europa League. The boss at Shalke has already raided Nacional once. Micael has already had a whacking pay rise at Nacional to keep him happy, after a Spanish club offered him 14 times his salary at that time. Even so, a move in the new transfer window is inevitable, with a number of clubs interested. Perhaps this is a move in revenge for the Europa League result, at a price which is pocket money for Gazprom, and without Micael, Nacional’s chances in Europe look even limper than they already are.

Madeira University has 47 student vacancies, 36 which were caused by students who were accepted for places but who didn’t register.

‘Caniço Is Going To Have A Garden And Sports Facility’. The problem of the lack of green areas and leisure in Caniço will soon be alleviated. The council of Santa Cruz has already secured the necessary investment to enable the construction of a city park, in the heart of the area. A considerable work, considered a priority by the current council president, and a ‘flagship’ in the campaign of the PSD social democrats in the area. The park will incorporate various courts for ball games, a multipurpose court, a children’s park, parking for 200 vehicles, a small cycle path, a mini golf ‘space’, and a green area. The money for the work, €1.5 to €2 million, will be ‘publically’ released next week, but the exact location of the park is still a closely guarded secret. The population of the area has escalated from 12 thousand to around 28 thousand, in just 8 years, and as one Diário reader, Dimitrios, says in the comments : "After having transformed Caniço into one of the most horrible places in Portugal in terms of disorganised construction, only now they remembered to make a garden". I don’t think they even ‘remembered’ Dimitrios’, as it can be no coincidence that the câmara and local elections are just over two weeks away. Still if the money has already been secured, maybe that will not now be the election winner that the PSD in Santa Cruz are hoping, and any party can now jump on the same ‘city park’ bandwagon.

Gripe A swine flu has taken the first life in Portugal. The 41 year old man was actually an emigrant in France, on holiday in Portugal, but he died yesterday in a Porto hospital.

‘Service For Workplace Conflicts Already Received 12 Cases – The new body is a faster alternative for both trade unions and employers’. The Regional Service for Voluntary Resolution of Workplace Conflicts, was officially inaugurated yesterday, but even up until then had received 12 applications, 8 of which have been dealt with. The objective of the body is to resolve workplace problems without legal recourse. The service, which seems to be based on arbitration and compromise, can also refer cases to the courts if they remain unresolved, and can issue certificates of exemption for the court costs.

Some leftovers from yesterday, which was a huge newspaper :

(23rd September). The last of yesterday’s headlines : ‘Induction For The Rookies Starts Parties And Gatherings’. The ‘newcomers’ are already in the initiation routines, and between games and war cries the new students integrate themselves in the usual manner’. "The initiation has been quite good fun, and is not bad as many people think, we have our rights and duties", says one new students about the initiation of new students in the University of Madeira. The initiation period lasts a month, and aside from the fun element, is supposed to welcome the newcomers and make them feel comfortable in UMa with their new colleagues. on 14th October there is then a ‘baptism’ ceremony.

‘Government Order To Regulate Determination Of Career Progression – Teacher’s Union accuses the Madeira government of frustrating the expectations of teachers’. President Jardim had promised changes in the rules for teacher career progression, following the national changes that based progression on teacher evaluations (where Jardim bypassed the national scheme, by automatically giving all of Madeira’s teachers a blanket rating of ‘good’). Jardim criticised the national scheme, and said Madeira would be different, promising career progression. In effect what Jardim did froze the salaries of the teachers, leaving them untouched now since 2005. 

‘Foreign Doctors To Fill Gaps – The health service is considering hiring a Polish anaesthetist’. While there is still a shortage of doctors in some specialties, the Regional Health Service SESARAM may resort to foreign professionals. Miguel Ferreira, clinical director of SESARAM, has already announced the appointment of a doctor from Venezuela. The possibility of using more foreign professionals to fill gaps is a situation to consider in individual cases. "We can not hire 15 or 20 foreign doctors because we have to think of those internally who are currently doing the specialty", he added. Odd to hear that Madeira is actively seeking foreigners, well nearly. Must mean that all the political cronies already have their offspring employed in the top jobs, or is it that the hospital chief thinks that a spotty orange-tinted brain surgeon is just a step too far.

‘Image of Our Lady of Fátima in Madeira’. On the 12th October the Diocese of Funchal will receive the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fátima, where it will stay until the 18th, before going around to some of the other major towns, on a tour that will run through until May. Fátima is the home of the shrine called the Basilica, built to commemorate the events of 1917 when three peasant children claimed to have seen the "Virgin of the Rosary", Our Lady of Fátima. It was and still is a very important religious event in Portugal. Unfortunately the original photograph of the statue that I saw has now disappeared, but I managed to find another one to satisfy ones curiosity.

‘Number Of Cases Of AIDS Grows On Madeira’. The president of the association ‘Abraço’ announced the fact without giving any definite numbers. The charitable organization that supports AIDS / SIDA sufferers is trying to raise €500,000 to open a new support facility through a national campaign to collect and sell waste copper. The building has been made available in Rua da Carreira by the regional government, but a lack of funds has prevented the reconstruction and adaptation for 3 years now. Electrical cables and wires, telephone chargers, and computer parts containing copper can be donated through Dolce Vita shopping malls and Post Offices.

UPDATES :

‘Magalhães Not Finished’. The project to provide mini laptop computers to school children throughout Portugal is to continue. The announcement by the Minister for Education said the decision has been made, regardless of the election results on Sunday. Over 400,000 children already have the computers, which as well as serving as a teaching / learning aid, gives wireless internet access, and also allows the possibility of remote teaching in case a school is temporarily closed, or a child cannot get to school.

‘Construction restricted by falling demand – The engineering works are the only ones to record a positive change’. A spokesman for the national Federation of Construction said that housing construction in Portugal had fallen 25.3% in comparative quarters in a year. Unemployment from the construction industry was up 77.3% between July 2008 and July 2009.

A Cooperative in Portugal will next week launch internet shopping. Customers will be able to order their groceries on-line and have them delivered to their homes, with a minimum order value of €25 . The website is here, but it is not functioning yet : www.coopbeja.com I will be looking again on Tuesday, to see if they deliver to Madeira, but somehow I think not. Anyway, it’s a good sign (perhaps) of things to come.

‘Portuguese Economy Should Contract 4% – The estimates of Standard & Poor are not very cheering for the national economy’. The ‘rating’ agency also said the economy would contract 1.2% in 2010, owing to the continuing effects of the financial crisis and weaknesses at home. The report stresses that external competiveness is particularly weak, that levels of investment are stagnant, and that the private sector is highly geared. Well I need a new TV, so that might help a bit, and the freezer broke last down month too, but that will have to wait until I can pluck up the courage to look inside. Anyway, I wouldn’t take much notice of anything produced by a company called ‘Standard & Poor’, as if it was any good at what it was doing it wouldn’t be ‘standard’ or even worse ‘poor’, now would it? I am think of starting a new venture next week, along the same lines, writing reports about country’s economies and finances, the name I have in mind is ‘Jolly Decent Yet Far From Rich’, and I reckon I can have S & P out of business in a month. Anyway, I just rolled the dice, and I predict the Portuguese economy will grow 18% next year (6 + 6 = 12, then a free roll for a double, 1 + 3). If you need a forecast for your favourite economy, drop me a line and you can have a special blog readers discount. I can only do positive forecasts mind, as I don’t have any dice with negative spots, so Americans, Brits and Spaniards, you are unfortunately beyond help.

No politics today, as I just can’t take any more!!!!!

‘Madeira Gourmet’ Of ACIF Brings Chefs Of World Renown – The first edition takes place between 3 and 7 November and aims to promote creativity and innovation’. Several world famous chefs have already confirmed attendance for the ‘Festival Madeira Gourmet’, an event organised by the chamber of trade and commerce of Funchal. The dishes to be created will reflect the place from where the chef comes from, and will be prepared in certain luxury hotels on Madeira., and served to visiting tourists, offering them a unique experience of high quality and refinement. A number of the chefs attending have been named, but Delia and Jamie are not amongst them, and I don’t recognise any of the others. I do a wicked cheese and mushroom omelette, but I can never get them out of the pan in one piece, so not much point in me entering.

’71 litres of beer per year’. Each Portuguese person consumed on average 71 litres of beer, spending €310, in 2008, a year in which the brewing industry generated €1,020 million for the economy, maintaining 72,900 jobs. In a report by consultants Ernst & Young, entitled “The Contribution of Beer to the European Economy”, issued yesterday, it says that Portugal is the sixth largest exporter of beer in Europe. The study, based on 2008 data, also shows that the value received by the Portuguese state from the beers is €973 million, a contribution divided into €448 million in IVA (VAT) tax, €91 million in consumption tax (?) and €426 million in indirect taxes and Social Security. That doesn’t seem to leave much profit for the brewers, but who cares. 71 litres of beer each a year doesn’t seem much. I used to know people who would get through that in a couple of weeks, but I suspect that they may be dead by now.

The government of Madeira will compensate farmers whose grapes do not reach the minimum standards (grade). The weather conditions have hampered the ripening of the grape crop, worrying farmers that their produce may not reach the ‘minimum degree of alcohol’ needed for Madeira Wine and table wine. The compensation will be between €0.50 and €0.60 a kilo, depending on the destination for use. Another type of grape ‘Arnsburger’ will attract less compensation.

‘Building project thinking about the foreign investor – ‘Monumental Residence’ cost €10.5 million. The 2nd phase was inaugurated yesterday’. It looks like many other buildings in Amparo, Pilar and even Ajuda, but this new building near the Rotunda da Assicom, in Funchal, is built with the aim of selling the 55 apartments to external investors, foreigners, or even emigrants that want a second home on Madeira. Sales are going well according to a spokesman for the building, which also includes 9 commercial units. An average T2 apartment there will be in the price range of €175,000 to €200,000. "In relation to what is normal, these apartments are 25 or 30% more expensive than market prices". Why? And who chose that silly name?

The last of today’s headlines (for today) : ‘Siram Win Tender – End of year illuminations are judged. The lowest price was worth nothing, as proposed by ‘Inductora’. The Siram consortium ‘Luzosfera’, who have had the contract for Christmas and new year lighting and decorations in Funchal for many years, have been reawarded the contract, despite the entrance of an under bidder in the tender contest. The Regional Secretary of Tourism and Transport assessed the two proposals using a points system, and awarded the contract once again to Siram, who have been in the chair for 20 years unopposed. The two areas that swung the deal were experience, and creativity in the new proposal. The two year contract, worth €6.5 million, also includes the Carnival and Flower Festival. The Siram consortium is made up of six sub-holdings, being Luzosfera, Art of Sound, ‘Festival Factory’, Stage Madeira, Kevents, and Full Zoom. Original blog article with more detail HERE

Duarte Ferreira, Director at Madeira Airport, said: “The launch of this new scheduled route is extremely positive news for Madeira and will open up this beautiful region to many more visitors. The creation of this brand new link, especially at a time when other operators are looking to cut costs and services, plays such an important role for tourism in the region, benefiting the local economy and people working and living on the island. We hope that this partnership with Jet2.com will result in the opening of several new routes from the UK in the near future”. Talking about the Jet2 announcement that it is to commence a weekly scheduled flight from Manchester to Madeira May next year.

The cruise ship ‘Pacific Dream’ will be making its last visit here on Friday. At least there is no agreement made that signifies that it will be returning.

It’s probably more theoretical than practical for most of us, but the natural gas market reaches the final stage of liberalisation at the end of this year, a time when we the domestic consumers can choose our supplier, an option that is already available to large consumers. The liberalisation of the market started in January 2007, with EDP and Galp dominating the market up until then. Switching suppliers will cost nothing, but as most of us on Madeira probably use bottled gas we will not see much impact, although the impact of liberalisation on gas pricing is yet to be seen.

(12th September). ‘Fund Doesn’t Thrive – Only one family on Madeira has signed up to the fund created to help those who can’t pay their monthly bank mortgage payments’. The central government created scheme was there to help families during the crisis who were in arrears with their mortgages, by allowing them to give up ownership, but pay rent instead, until times improved. The truth is that the results show that the Portuguese, and Madeira in particular, did not believe in this product, which allowed the ‘tenant’ the right to buy back their property until the end of 2020. The banks were not keen to get involved, being one problem, but the massive retreat in interest rates also made the whole scheme less necessary.

‘Construction Slows But It Doesn’t Stop – Home building registers the lowest fall in Portugal’. It is a significant statistic. Madeira is the region of Portugal with the smallest fall in the construction of domestic properties, signalling that the crisis has not hit as hard here in the construction sector. In the first two quarters of this year, 275 homes were licensed, a fall of 27.6%. That compares with falls of 69% in the Azores, the worst, 55% in the Algarve, and 54% in Lisbon. In 2008 the number of residential buildings on Madeira was estimated at 82,735, with the actual number of homes within those estimated to be 119,995. 32% of these buildings are located in Funchal, 16% in Santa Cruz, and 11% in Câmara de lobos.

(13th September). The count for visiting cruise ships continues to impress. 35 are due in Funchal next month, and another 100 are expected in the final two months of 2009. The three month period will see over 220,000 tourists arriving by cruise ship, by far more than any other Portuguese port. November alone will see around 100,000 visitors here (54 cruise ships).

(12th September). ‘Lobo Marinho Will Undertake More Journeys To Porto Santo In October’. An extra six crossings will be fitted in, with Porto Santo Line rejigging it’s schedule for the big Porto Santo weekend of 3rd to 5th October. High demand for that weekend will be catered for through twice daily trips on 2nd, 5th & 6th October. Monday 5th October is a public holiday, and many Madeirans want to make a long weekend break on the golden island.

(10th September). ‘Finanças To Replace Letters With Emails – Electronic communications with the taxpayer starting in earnest this month’. The Directorate General for Taxation (DGCI) wants to finish with the paperwork and reduce costs. The action will need a progressive implementation, starting next Tuesday, because "we need to change the attitudes and habits", says a spokesman.

In the same article, the DGCI says it has 75,000 cars it needs to sell, that were seized for non payment of taxes. It aims to sell all of these by the end of this year. A spokesman says that cars are the most ‘seized’ item, followed by household goods and ‘bank accounts’, for non payment of taxes.

(11th September). ‘Ports Promote Terminal – Partnership with the Canaries is better value for the Port of Funchal’. The port of Funchal will be present in the trade fair ‘Seatrade Europe’, which this year will take place in the city of Hamburg from the 15th to 17th of this month. This year the representation is in partnership with the Canary islands, through (the theme) ‘Cruises in the Atlantic Islands’, which has a 48 square metre stand. Asked about the importance of this event for the region, particularly with regard to the port area, Bruno Freitas of the port authority APRAM acknowledged that "the representation of APRAM at this show serves as an effective promotion of Madeira Islands, and the Port of Funchal as one of the more competitive cruise ports in this area of the Atlantic, but also in the continuity of work on publicity and projection that have been held regarding the new Maritime Passenger Terminal". He reminded that work has already been done in this respect in Lisbon in January, as well as in Miami, the largest fair in the market, that took place in March this year.  "APRAM is promoting, along with national ports, the creation of new partnerships to explore new routes with the aim of attracting more cruise ships to the Port of Funchal, highlighting in this way its seasonality", he said. November this year will be the busiest and important month with 54 cruise ships visiting, some on repositioning journeys for a new cruise season, and able to see the construction of this new facility.

In a related article . ‘Project Alterations Could Delay Completion Of The Terminal’. The port authority APRAM guarantees that alterations being made to the new terminal, so that it can accommodate it’s own services, will not delay the inauguration. But the truth is that that opinion is certainly not shared by those who are on the site, having been obliged to take down structures (walls) to ensure the right configuration. The president of APRAM said "the changes in the project are designed to ensure the maximum functionality and comfort of passengers boarding and disembarking, as well as improved conditions for passengers in transit". "These changes at no time have caused any inconvenience or delay in carrying out the work, which, incidentally, continues on schedule", he added. The Diário believes that completion by the deadline of December 2010 is in jeopardy. APRAM has until December 2010 to complete the work without penalty to the €7 million granted by the Cohesion Fund.

‘Hotel Occupation Rate Currently At Around 75% – The numbers are better than 2008′. That’s 3% higher than the same time last year. The regional director for tourism revealed the figures yesterday, saying that the improvement is (partly?) down to the wine festival programme that her department has invested €129 thousand in. She said awareness of the wine festival definitely attracts tourists who are aware of the event, and the entertainment that goes with it. The information for the event is available on the internet as far forward as 2012. Most of the activities are centred in Avenida Arriaga, but the focus shifts to Estreito de Câmara de Lobos on the 5th September.

‘More Domestic Passengers’. Madeira Airport is the Portuguese airport which had the largest growth of domestic traffic in July, with growth of 15.4% over the same month last year, which equates to 117,800 passengers. International passengers fell 19.1%, to 96,100 in the comparison of the same months. In the seven months to July 2009, Madeira Airport had an overall fall in passenger numbers of 5.5% to 1.36 million, whilst domestic traffic grew 12.2% to 671,700 passengers.

‘Santa Barbara Airlines Launches Funchal To Caracas At €390 – Venezuela more accessible until December’. The flight already exists as far as I know, but the prices are new, in a campaign called ‘Anti-crisis prices’. The flights will be available from 1st October until 12th December, and are priced from €390.

‘Surveillance Launch Lost – ‘Escorpião’ returns to Lisbon after a 2 month period of service in the region’. The Portuguese Navy vessel will finish its service here on Sunday, after coming here to reinforce control of Madeira’s waters on 4th July. It’s duties included safeguarding lives at sea, fishing enforcement activities, and other actions.

‘More Fish (Long Bill) And Tourists / Fishermen – August has more customers, but it doesn’t hide the crisis facing the industry’. "The business is no longer what it was. Customers are fewer in number, hence the month of August has around 30% less than the same period last year. However, it is noted that demand is much better than that of early-season (June), because in that month the (boat) charters fell almost 50%". So says Pedro Gonçalves of the company NAUTISANTOS, Ltd. "Yet we have had charters almost every day, which is always good" he says, referring to a mini recovery for his big game fishing business. There are many long bill fish this season says another businessman in the sector, saying that warmer seas are bringing them in closer to shore. Madeira is known as one of the best places in the world for this type of fishing, and in 2008 430 Blue Marlin catches were made, 12 of them weighing over 1,000 pounds (454 kgs). One other attractive feature is that from port to the best fishing zones is very short, needing just 5 minutes to be able to start fishing. In other European big game fishing locations the travelling is usually an hour or more.

‘New Tourist Office In Rossio’. The deal has been done, but the official announcement won’t be until September. The Regional Secretary of Tourism and Transport has already signed the lease with a company for the use of a space that will be between the Rossio and Praça do Comércio, in downtown Lisbon. The old office for Madeira Tourism in Portugal closed suddenly some months ago.

‘Hotels On Madeira And The Algarve Maintain Staffing Levels – The main hotel groups say that demand is sufficiently good to maintain jobs’. The regions most affected by rising unemployment in July were the Algarve and Madeira, according to the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training, but the hotels say they have maintained the employment levels from previous years. Figures released in July showed that unemployment had increased over a year by 50.3% on Madeira, and 104.2% in the Algarve. The Pestana Group, with 10 hotels here and 8 in the Algarve, says it has kept the same number of workers, and taken on temporary workers. Vila Galé group, also operating in both locations, also said it had not cut back on staff. It just shows the profits they used to make in the good old days then, if they can maintain the same overheads with much reduced revenue.

(26th August). ‘Salary Bank Accounts* Save Up To 240 Euros Per Year – "As a rule, they are free of maintenance costs (bank charges) or do not charge an annual fee for the cards". This applies especially if managed through the Internet, says a study by DECO, the Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection. The study covered 19 banks, of which 6 claimed to provide an "account for citizens with low incomes", i.e. providing a minimum level of banking services. DECO is challenging the Ministry of Finance to create a citizen’s account, accessible to any customer, with reduced maintenance costs and a free debit card. Deco also notes that some transactions can be carried out at multibanco (ATM) machines for less than it would cost on the telephone or at the bank counter. The full report is due to be published next month. It is my understanding that a conta-ordenado*, is for people working and having salaries paid in, but I think it is the same account that I have for example, with nothing being paid in on a regular basis, but is subject to no bank charges as long as a minimum balance is maintained, but I am not 100% certain, and it may vary with different banks.

(23rd August). ‘Bombardier Dash Q200 Substitutes Broken Down Aircraft – SATA Air Azores brings forward the maiden voyage for Madeira for the aircraft intended to arrive in 2010′. The Q200 ‘Graciosa’ started the inter island connections on Saturday. The plane was being used for inter island connections in the Azores, but was called in to replace the British Aerospace ATP ‘Açores’ after the engine fire that caused an emergency landing on Porto Santo on Friday morning. Also the replacement Pratt & Whitney engine for the ATP has arrived along with engineers to make the swop, with the job expected to be complete on Tuesday. After satisfactory test results, the Q200 will return to the Azores, returning again in January as a permanent replacement for the ATP.

‘Luxury Brands In Crisis Due To Sales – The crisis keeps away the customers of shops of luxury goods, and the companies confront problems caused by the fall in sales, motivated by the search for cheaper products’. Many companies manufacturing or retailing luxury goods have seen their financial performance fall in the first few months of this year, but the opinions and the circumstances vary. 

‘Growth in Line With Germany And France Is Mere Coincidence – Chief economist of BPI Bank says that the reasons for the growth are very different’. The growth in GDP announced a week ago for the second quarter of 2009 is a coincidental statistic she assured. Although Portugal did have a rise in consumption and a slowing of the fall in exports, she said.

‘New website of the voter presented Thursday – The ‘Site’ will "provide all necessary information about polling and the various elections". The new facility developed by the Ministry of Internal Administration will tell us what we need to know about the elections and polling on September 27th and 11th October. One of the aims is to disseminate information and encourage people to vote.

12 political parties will run in the national (legislative) elections in September, but sorry I can’t translate them all as they become meaningless, so I opted for none. So the ballot paper here will look something like that shown, including 5 parties that are pretty meaningless for Madeirans. Bloco de Esquerda (BE), Centro Democrático Social (CDS), Partido Popular Monárquico (PPM), Movimento Mérito e Sociedade (MMS), Partido Nacional Renovador (PNR), Partido Social Democrata (PSD), Movimento Esperança Portugal (MEP), Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses (PCTP/MRPP), Partido da Nova Democracia (PND), Movimento Partido da Terra (MPT), Partido Socialista (PS), Coligação Democrática Unitária (CDU). I don’t why I bothered really as I can’t vote anyway.

‘PSD, PS And CDU Run In All The Local Elections – PP Runs in all except Santa Cruz where it supports the citizens movement ‘Juntos Pelo Povo’. In fact BE (Left Block) and CDS/PP (Christian Democrats / Peoples Party) have all put their weight behind ‘Juntos Pelo Povo’, who will be at the top of the polling paper in the Cruz. The socialists, social democrats, and CDU (communists), have candidates for all the locally contested seats. The CDU communists are amongst the first to start putting up propaganda posters around me I noticed. One that they put up very near the PPD / PSD (Madeira) souvenir shop in Ribeira Brava was torn down the same night, but has now made a full recovery, presumably with the aid of extra strong glue. Silly season has officially arrived!

"A good indicator". The regional secretary for Human Resources believes that the INE data on unemployment in Madeira in July, is "a good indicator." Statistics show that the registered unemployment fell last month, which in practice is least 94 less people registered this month compared to June. However, compared with July last year, Madeira also notes a significant rise. The communiqué issued yesterday by secretary Brazão de Castro notes that at a national level the trend continues to increase in the number of unemployed. He also stressed that the figures for July, for Madeira, present other "positive symptoms", including increased ‘offers of employment’ (16.5% more than in the previous month).

(18th August). "It’s Not The End Of The Crisis – Sócrates admits that it is not over, but defends the investment of the state’. Prime Minister José Sócrates said on Monday that the public investments were responsible for taking Portugal ‘technically’ out of recession. "What is demanded of the state is the combat of the crisis and we did something already for that. It was that reason that took the country technically out of recession in the second quarter". But "it’s not the end of the crisis" he clarified, "no, we are far from that, it is certain, but it was the first sign, as one of the countries that came out of technical recession conditions that we have been immersed in for the last 9 months".

‘JPP Makes History To Run In Santa Cruz’. The group of citizens amalgamated to form the ‘Juntos Pelo Povo’ (Together for the People) yesterday submitted it’s candidate lists for the câmara of Santa Cruz and the parishes, having gathered a list of five thousand signatures of support. This will be the one to watch on election day in October I reckon.

(17th August). ‘Locals - They Finished Yesterday The Delivery Of More Than 100,000 Candidates’. The day finally arrived, being the cut-off for candidate lists for câmaras, parish councils, and municipal assemblies. That’s a relief, that was about 80-90% of the political section, wheeling and dealing with the lists of the numerous political parties. What with there being no assemblies and council meetings either, the Diário was also forced to focus almost entirely on President Jardim’s antics, which is usually quite entertaining, but limited. There are still plenty of articles about the ‘lists’ in today’s newspaper though, but they will soon fizzle out and move to party policies and opinion polls, that’s for sure.

From the Jornal da Madeira : ’60 Inaugurations On The Agenda Of Jardim Between 1st September And 9th October’. President Alberto João Jardim will be all over the region next month and the beginning of October, as he supplements his electioneering with official duties. 9 new schools or improvements, new roads, urban arrangements(?), and libraries, over €200 million in works altogether. The highlights will be the new west access at Santo Amaro (12th September), at the Estrada Monumental in Funchal between Fórum Madeira and the Rotunda da Assicom (17th September), and the via expresso to Funchal port (2nd October). 

Two articles on unemployment from the last two days, but the conclusion is much the same.

(18th August). ’94 Less Unemployed – The unemployment in July decreased 0.8% – The first fall in 9 months. But it increased 50.3% in relation to July 2008′. Figures from the Institute of Employment of Madeira say that there were 94 less unemployed here in July compared to June, and we now have 12,389 registered unemployed. Only 3 regions of Portugal had positive results, the others being the Algarve and the Azores, again both seasonal locations. However, jobs on offer here are still very low.

(17th August). ‘Number Of ‘Signed-On’ In Job Centres Rises To 496 Thousand In July – Madeira records the first decrease in 10 months’. The registered unemployment nationally increased by 1.4% in July (from June), and was up 30.1% compared to July 2008, to 496,683. The new statistics came from the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP). The most important part of the increase was from young people. As for Madeira unemployment fell by 0.8%. The last actual figures reported for Madeira from IEFP were up to the end of June, when there were 12,483, up 296 on the previous month. As Uncle Bertie doesn’t accept as accurate any data from the Nacional Institute of Statistics and the Bank of Portugal, I wonder if he will accept these positive reports from these different sources? It was half expected as much of the work here is so seasonal.

‘PS Recovers Posters – The re-candidature of Emanuel Câmara uses the election posters of 2005′. The socialist party candidate is the same one from four years ago in Porto Moniz, and the election posters appearing in the streets are a little yellowed with age, but reusable. The date ’2005′ that showed back then has had to be cut out (bottom left corner), but the candidate says he is following the 3 ‘R’ rule, for recycle, reduce, and reuse, as part of his ‘green credentials’. Sources close to the politician however say that is not the main reason, it is a shortage of funds for political advertising and also the late announcement of candidacy that are responsible. Just as well he was already grey haired then, and there is no truth in the rumours that that until a week ago the man had a full beard and moustache set, and now keeps walking into lampposts. Too subtle … sorry!

I could have got 4 ‘Câmaras’ in that headline, but was stuck for space : Câmara runs for Câmara, but doesn’t need a film in the câmara of the câmara.

A quick look at matters of the economy : 

’100 largest companies: Best practices – Healthy environment. Producing energy using wind and water from the drains of Quinta do Lorde, that wants to be the model environment’. It is a controversial project that the company SA is developing in Caniçal, being Quinta do Lorde. Why build 49 buildings in an area of natural park with huge impacts, although paradoxically it was taken as an example of good environmental practice. The president of the company Ricardo Sousa says that the project invested in the "implementation of an eco-resort, a sustainable tourism community, self sufficient in energy and water, part of a strategy for restating Madeira as a (green?) tourist destination’. The construction is "based on exploiting renewable energy resources and high energy efficiency in the buildings and equipment, a strategy that gives high standards of comfort with lower energy consumption, minimising the environmental impacts". The project is even installing a desalination unit, capable of producing 100 cubic metres of drinking water a day from sea water. A waste water treatment plant will also be installed, to process all the sewerage, then to be used for keeping the gardens green. Three wind generators and an area of solar panels will be used to generate energy. Much more in facts and figures :
Sousa is the majority (84%) shareholder of the company of 100 shareholders.
The total project costs are around €100 million, or which €4 million came from state incentives.
The cheapest house will cost €1.2 million, whilst apartments will start at €380,000.
The total project covers 163,750 square metres of natural park land.
‘White man speaks with forked tongue’ is what springs to mind, but regardless, some wealthy folks who don’t give two figs about the environment, or who are persuaded by said ‘forked tongue’ that they are actually doing a good thing, will buy. To those people I say that when you are sat on your very comfortable loo in the morning generating electricity and fresh water, just remember that old adage ‘what goes around comes around’, and then go and make a nice cup of tea and hope they got the plumbing right.

(16th August). The last story from yesterday’s front page : ‘Businessman Loses €5 Million Due To Popular Actions – Miguel Viveiros moves forward with his new project of gravel in Machico after a difficult financial phase resulting from, according to the businessman, of popular actions that stopped him continuing three works during two years’. The ‘self made man’ stopped works in Santana, Machico, and Caniçal, and was forced to rethink his plans without losing sight of his investments. The €5 million lost was due to three court actions, and that figure didn’t include interest and bank charges, or lost revenue and opportunities, and not to mention the two hundred people put out of work. I have no idea if the legal actions were frivolous or not.

(15th August). ‘Inflation Rate For Portugal And Ireland Is The lowest In Europe’. In the 12 months until July 2009, both countries registered annual inflation of just 0.5%.

‘Producers Challenge Price Of Milk – farmers complain that they receive the same today as 20 years ago’. As most of our milk here is imported, I guess it’s relevant. Community directives combined with the effects of the crisis have left milk producers (but not the cows) complaining about what they are paid. "The European Union has decided to end the production quotas for milk at the worst time, in the height of the crisis" says the president of the association of young farmers in Porto. Now supply exceeds demand. He says the situation will resolve itself, as the producers become insolvent and go out of business, resulting in a shortage of supply, and then the price rises follow. It’s been quite noticeable here the price swings for milk sold on Madeira. Up until about two years ago I was paying 45c a litre carton, then up until a year ago I was paying 75 to 80c, but now you can get milk as cheap as 39c a litre.

It would normally go under ‘politics’ of course, but as it is another headline that directly relates to the headline above : "0.3% Is Zero Growth" – Jardim considers that the increase in PIB / GDP signifies nothing and is a "big fat economic failure". Unlike many reviews and opinions, Alberto João Jardim considers that the growth in the economy of 0.3% means nothing. Prime Minister José Sócrates guarantees that the figures show that Portugal is coming out of recession in a turn in the country’s economy. The president of the Madeira government has a different opinion : "0.3% is zero growth and is therefore a big fat economic failure" that doesn’t even pass for a "fantasy for cheap electioneering". Funny that Uncle Bertie mentions the subject of elections, as that means that for the forthcoming national elections the voters may well be cheered by the news, and decide to stay with a socialist government.

‘Unemployment Worsens In The Second Quarter Of 2009 – Rate hits 9.1%’. That’s up from 8.9% in the first quarter of 2009. The figures from the National Institute for Statistics released today show that unemployment in Portugal has risen by 1.8% in the space of a year. The bad news was above the governments prediction of 8.8%, and the average prediction of analysts contacted by the Diário. We just need to wait now for Uncle Bertie’s mob to provide the figures for Madeira, but we can already predict the reaction to the normally vastly understated figures, probably something like "?.?% is zero growth" from the man himself.

‘Help For The Rent – The number of interested parties in the support of IHM for the unemployed, without money to pay for housing, is growing’. 320 families are already interested in receiving assistance with their rent since the new scheme was introduced in April. The scheme, which helps those who find themselves unemployed and without sufficient money to pay their rent, has already attracted many contacts and applications through ‘Housing Investment in Madeira’ (IHM). Nearly all of the tenants in question are still receiving unemployment benefit, but when that runs out, and there is still no work, then the new scheme kicks in. Just three families so far have reached that stage. The maximum assistance per person is €175 a month, but if a couple of tenants living together both lose their work, this assistance can be doubled. It is paid for 12 months,  but can be renewed at the end of that period if necessary.

In Transport & Tourism : 

According to the TV news this morning, TAP, Portugal’s favourite airline, is really going through tough times at the moment as people cut back on travel and the competition begins to bite. It has announced fairly severe cutbacks, the more significant being a 10% cut back in flights next month. The president of TAP is said to be feeling the pressure in managing the company "due to the policy of trade unions in a year of elections". He made a statement to the media in reaction to the announcement of 4 days of strike action, by employees represented by 5 different trade unions, over the lack of a pay increase since last year. Madeira is one its most popular and well occupied routes, so maybe we will get off lightly in the cut backs. On the other hand it is now one of the stiffest routes for competition, so perhaps not.

‘DECO Accuses Easyjet Of Rejecting Complaints – The airline company that does connections to Madeira doesn’t accept complaints in Portuguese’. The consumer defence organisation DECO has accused Easyjet of breaking the law, because it is refusing to deal with complaints written in Portuguese. DECO has had several complaints from flyers, in connection with delays and baggage issues, where the complainant has been told they must complain in English, Spanish, German, French or Italian. Likewise, anyone ringing the company office in Luton, England, will be turned away as there are no Portuguese speakers. I guess DECO will get nowhere with this one, unless of course they write their own complaint in one of Easyjet’s acceptable languages.

‘Disney Cruise Line Promotes Madeira – The company website of Disney promotes the destination’. The cruise ship ‘Disney Magic’ is to visit us twice in 2010, with 2,400 tourists. The first time will be in the height of the flower festival (18th April), and then again in September. The Diário says that the Disney website is one of the most popular in the world, and the write up for Madeira could also also promote tourism here through means other than the Disney cruise ship.

The final front page headline today : ‘On Porto Santo, Renata Sousa Reacts To Roberto’. The PS candidate for Porto Santo wants to know what the people of the island have to gain with the €5 million that the council there is planning to sink into the Colombo Resort project, in the attempt to restart the project that ran-aground with financial difficulties. The €5 million is a third of the Câmara’s annual budget, and although not yet absolutely committed, is promised on a ‘memorandum of understanding’ signed by various potential investors. A "megalomaniac project",that on sight "pleases no one", and showed a "number of irregularities" when it was approved by the local council. "Roberto Silva (câmara president) has to come to speak publicly about it" she said. Fair point I think, no customers, no point in spending €5 million yet, but who wants a part built eyesore left cluttering up an already cluttered shoreline.

The PS-M is due to submit it’s candidate list for Porto Santo tomorrow, whilst the PSD-M did so yesterday. President Jardim says he expects a "crushing" victory.

Portugal has registered 52 new Gripe A cases in the last 24 hours, and a creche was closed due to infection. The total now has risen to 735 cases, with 12 people actually in hospital, but all in stable condition. Most of the new cases in Portugal now are through transmission rather than imported.

In the economy :

‘More than 70% of those signed on in the employment centres receive benefits – The self employed and young people with little time in work make up the other 30%’. The number of those not entitled to the benefit is growing faster proportionally than the unemployed numbers generally.

‘Growth (PID / GDP) In The Portuguese Economy Likely To Have Reduced By 0.6% In The 2nd Quarter – Analysts point to some recovery in private consumption and in exports’. The reduction in growth is compared to the first quarter of 2009, and has yet to be confirmed, but if true it will be the 4th consecutive quarter of GDP shrinkage (-0.1%,-2%,-1.5%,-0.6%?). Estimates from two private  banks are for GDP to have shrunk by 4.2% / 3.6% over the full year of 2009, whilst the Bank of Portugal believes -3.5% is more accurate. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -4.5% is more likely.

’9.3% more buildings constructed between 2001 and 2008 – Madeira is the second region of Portugal for higher growth’. Madeira is the second region of the country in terms of higher growth in the total number of buildings, according to the National Statistics Institute, who published a study ‘Construction and Housing’. During the period stated, the number of buildings increased here during the period by 9.3%, only exceeded by the Algarve at 10.6%. The national average was 7.6%. However the constructions have now dropped dramatically on Madeira, and 19.5% less buildings were licensed in 2008 than 2007. On the other hand, Madeira has the largest decrease in the average number of inhabitants per home. Between 2001 and 2008, the number declined from 2.46 to 2.06 per dwelling, a decrease of 16.3%. Nationally the average is 1.86 persons per dwelling.

‘Madeira Is The National Leader In The Use Of The Mobile Phone – The region is also in front in the consumption of subscription TV services’. We talk the least on the fixed home phone, and with Lisbon, the most on the mobile, with residential penetration rates of 88% (Lisbon) and 84% (Madeira).

‘PS-M Wants Ombudsman In Funchal – The measure would tackle the issues with ‘connections’ and ‘favours’ in the câmara’. The mediator between the population and the council would also look to reduce bureaucracy and favouritism in the council, and improve services generally, and create some new jobs, said a socialist spokesman.

‘Days Of Reflection And Elections Will Have Street Publicity – The local election campaign will run over the national elections’. The Saturday and Sunday of 26th and 27th September are supposed to be propaganda free under election rules, but because the local election campaign will be running during the voting in national elections, there is a bit of a dilemma in politics on what to do. In theory, all posters and political advertising should be removed over that weekend, but the logistics and costs of doing so are quite unrealistic. Two parties have already announced that they will not remove all their street garbage over that weekend, the PCP (communists) and BE (Left Block), and the BE has already approached Funchal council to arrange a meeting to see what action it will be taking, or enforcing, for all the parties as a whole. The National Electoral Commission will have the final say, and the PS-M have said they will abide by the decision made by the CNE, but the secretary-general of the socialists reminds of the high costs and difficulties that it would incur in the party, both logistically, and through needing considerable resources with many people involved. If I was the boss of the CNE, I know what my decision would be, force them all to remove everything, just to make them spend as much as possible, then there is less money to spend on future propaganda.

"Drug addicts are not criminals". BE (Left Block) are again asking for Madeirans to give their vote to elect a member to the Assembly of the Republic, who among other things, will defend the treatment of drug addicts and fight against attempts to criminalize the use of drugs. A proposal was accepted by the PSD-M to sentence drug users for up to 6 months in prison. The BE believes that drug addicts "are patients and not mere criminals". I wouldn’t waste a bottle of Coral putting out a fire as far as the BE are concerned (there, that was politely put), but with all the other problems being experienced at present is that really the best headline policy they can come up with? I thought drug taking was already criminal, or is that just a technicality around drug possession?

In the economy …

(6th August). Today’s main news headline : ’30% Of Companies Are At High Risk – Around 4,660 companies, a third of those registered on Madeira, have a high rate of risk above the national average, a situation that makes access to credit difficult. The conclusion is that of a multinational analysis’. The risk analysis study carried out in June covered 5 regions in Portugal, and Madeira and the Azores, assessed 15,292 existing businesses here and on Porto Santo, labelling 4,665 as "high risk", the worst result of all the regions assessed at 30.5%. Nationally the average statistic comes out at 25.2%.

(5th August). ‘Fuel Costs Rose 38%, Electricity Sold Worth €110.3 Million – EEM closed 2008  with a profit of €3.7 million’. The Electricity Company of Madeira declared results that show that public enterprises can have positive results with effective management, and meet their commitments. Total income amounted to €213.6 million, an increase of 18.6%, and the operating revenue was up 21% to €204.6 million. Revenue from electricity sales was up 8.8%, due to a 4.5% growth in consumption, and an average price rise also of around 4.5%. Costs were reported as being €209.3 million, 18% higher than in 2007, the increase due in part to increasing fuel prices, and also due to growing purchases from third party private generators, the latter accounting for expenditure of €89.2 million (up €21.6 million). At the end of 2008 EEM had 134,112 power consumers, up 2,486 on 2007, and is the biggest company on Madeira. I for one think they have managed to contain their charges to customers very well given the instability in oil prices, clearly absorbing some of their fuel cost increases … so thank you from me, and for a pretty reliable service, and for pretty accurate bills.

(6th August). ‘Ryanair Announces Its First Domestic Flight In Portugal – The ‘low-cost’ airline will connect the city of Porto to Faro’. The service will start on 26th October and fly four times a week. The company will also set up a new base in Porto. The flights will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. It will also launch new flights between Porto and Germany (Dusseldorf and Baden Baden) three times a week. Tickets will go on sale on the company website today, and there will be a million seats priced at one Euro for all three destinations, including airport taxes, for flying in October and November. In total Ryanair intends to operate 21 flights from Porto, carrying 1.8 million passengers a year, with even Lisbon being a possible connection. I think the article is incorrect, as it says the million €1 seats are only available until Friday, and I hardly think that one million seat bookings would be possible within that time. So either the number of €1 seats is wrong, or the deadline is wrong, or both.

‘Sand Constructions In Porto Santo And In Funchal – Panda goes to Porto Santo for the 52nd competition promoted by the Diário de Notícias’. Last year Funchal was selected as one of the locations for the preliminaries of the competition ‘Contruções na Areia’, and does the same this year on Saturday (starts 11am). The competition takes place on 18 beaches around Portugal. Also on Porto Santo on 15th August (3.30pm Praia da Fontinha), the event will be filmed and shown by the children’s TV channel ‘Panda’, and will be attended by the TV star, the big cuddly Panda himself. The competition is open to children aged between 6 and 14 who own a plastic bucket.

‘Vinho Seco Of Porto Santo Banished From The Downtown Street Sellers’. For some reason this was in the ‘economy section’ of the Diário, which seems to have been taken over by Porto Santo stories today. I have explained about ‘vinho seco’ before, but just in case anyone missed it, it is a local dry red wine made from low quality grapes, and is a main tipple of the working class and poor, as it sells for €1 or less a litre. Most visitors to Madeira would be unlikely to come across it. It is also believed to contain toxins, and is the root to much of the drunkenness and alcoholism on Madeira. Anyway, back to the story. Fruit sellers working from street stands in Vila Baleira on Porto Santo have been prohibited from displaying or selling Vinho Seco, by the council, a source of annoyance for some, as the wine "is much appreciated by the Porto-Santenses and tourists". The licensed sellers are now deemed to have inadequate hygiene conditions to serve the wine in glasses. The bars and tascas are unaffected. The ruling has cheesed off producers and sellers, as there was already insufficient demand to sell all the wine produced. The Diário found that it was still possible to get the tipple ‘under the counter’, or buy a bottle disguised as something else. Sounds like another politically correct thingy to me … lacking hygiene indeed … I would use this stuff to clean my lavatory if I ever ran out of disinfectant, and its probably cheaper, and certainly smells better

The main photo today shows a traffic queue on the via rápida at the start of roadworks  : ‘Vialitoral Reduces Confusion In Boa Nova – The persistent critics of the chaos caused by maintenance works are going to stop: the management company accelerated the works in order to ease the traffic until Saturday’. The job was targeted to be done in record time at the junction at Boa Nova, after a storm of criticism from unhappy drivers along that route, after long traffic queues. The company recognised and regretted the inconvenience caused by the essential work, and the change in plan enabled the work to be completed at midnight last night, leaving the two lanes open and flowing for today’s travellers. Further work will be undertaken on expansion joints Saturday and Sunday, but of course there will be much less traffic then, and further work planned for next week will also cause less hindrance.

‘Police Already Receive One Debt That They Complained About – The ‘ungrateful’ weekend was highlighted in the Diário. The government didn’t like it. But the debt of P. Cruz was paid yesterday morning to the police officers’. President Jardim made an appeal, and the president of the Casa do Povo (House of the People) in Machico responded with a cheque for €742, overdue by a year for the policing provided for their Grape Festival.  Alberto João Jardim denied a lack of recognition for the police that had worked long hours during the hot weekend for the royal visit and the rally, saying that he had sent thanks in writing to the Regional Commander of the PSP (police). The union official didn’t withdraw his accusation of ingratitude though. Perhaps it is the case that for special events like festas and the rally, police are paid directly through the organisers of the event … sounds strange though?

Three more ‘forest’ fires reported yesterday. One in Santo da Serra was extinguished by Santa Cruz firemen, who after returning to base were then called to another high up in Gaula. The other was in Lombada, Ponta do Sol, and nearly burnt down an electricity post.

In football : ‘Ex-Nacional Player Alonso Signs For Marítimo’.

Anyone watch the Sporting v Twente champion league qualifier last night? It looked all over for Sporting Lisbon until 90+5 minutes, in a 95 minute game, when the Sporting goalkeeper came upfield in desperation for a final corner to be taken … and scored with his shoulder, with a couple of deflections along the way! Amazing. I remember Jimmy Glass from many years ago doing the same thing.

The board of the Health Service of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (SESARAM) is promoting first aid training for people aged between 16 and 25. The initiative aims to provide young people with useful skills that could help save a life.

‘Week Of Youth Starts Today – Art, music, astronomy, and plenty of social life are the high points of the initiative’. The 2009 version, promoted by the regional secretary of human resources, runs until 12th August. It also includes a hip hop contest on Saturday. A contest involving trendy beer ingredients, that should be worth a visit!

3 months after the first case showed in Portugal, there are now 342 367 registered and confirmed cases of Gripe A, or H1N1 swine flu, with the majority not needing to be hospitalised and quickly returning to normal life. No one has died. I have not heard of any new cases on Madeira for getting on two weeks now, so I reckon we must be totally clear for the moment.

‘Porto Santo Line Increases Connections In August – The Lobo Marinho will make two trips on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays’. An increase in demand for this month has led to the decision to make two daily crossing three times a week, to serve holidaymakers wishing to go to the island. The councillor Roberto Silva said he anticipates a full house on ‘the sand’ throughout August. That doesn’t tie in with the weekend story about reduced hotel bookings, but the facts published often change with the wind. Perhaps there are going to be a lot of day trippers, and / or people staying with friends or family?

‘Council Wants Tourism In Sítio dos Salgados – The Salgados are what gave origin to what is today the parish of Camacha’. The council of Santa Cruz is looking for community support to move forward with a regeneration project in one of the more southerly locations in the area, where nature keeps itself in a better state of conservation. The Salgados are a small residential community nucleus that according to history gave rise to Camacha. There are still some remains of a chapel there dating back to that time, and there is an old stone house that belonged to a family named ‘Camacho’, probably giving the origin of the name of the parish. It will not be easy to move the project forward, as funding will need to be approved, and it will need the approval of families with property there, some of which have emigrated. One thing that is going ahead is the construction of a new access road to the Salgados, from Lombo Centeio. The article also mentions the Levada dos ‘Caniceiros’ which passes through the area.

‘The First Hotel In Faial Will Have Twenty Rooms – The new hotel will be built in the grounds of the Casa de Chá (tea house) in Faial (pictured)’. The tea house itself will undergo major changes and improvements. The project has already been assessed and approved by the local authorities of Santana, and the current owners are just awaiting to collect the licences to start work. The restaurant and bar will remain open and unchanged, as they were already upgraded in 2003. The location has fantastic views, surrounded by two valleys of exceptional beauty. The first plan for the development was a 40 room tower, with a rotating restaurant on top, but it was deemed unrealistic and inappropriate for the location. The 20 room hotel will also have a conference / function room with capacity for 300 guests.

Notice lots of picture today? I had to fill the space with something, as there are just 15 articles in the Diário today, excluding politics (nothing doing as politics has closed down for the Summer, with just election news left), sport, and entertainment.

The political parties will this week begin delivering their lists of candidates for the local and national elections to the governing tribunal. The lists must be all in by the 17th August for both elections.

‘Tourists Stir Little On Porto Santo – There are hotels on the island with good occupation, but others are lower than last year’. This weekend has been good, and next week has higher bookings than expected, but there are complaints about the loss of business since 2008 in some quarters, especially those that are less than a third booked. After the episode with the Italian tourists, the island is being (re)discovered by Venezuelan emigrants and many French who are new this year, and also there has been an increase in the number of Spanish visitors, and those using the new charter flights from Lisbon and Porto. The Torre Praia, Aparthotel Luamar, and the Praia Dourada all have reservations of about 90%, but they all belong to the same group, and offer packages tied in with the ferry company Porto Santo Line. The Hotel Quinta do Serrado on the north coast of the island has bookings at just 30% of occupancy this week.

‘A Difficult May For Regional Hotels – Hotel prices on Madeira dropped around 11.22% during the month’. All the indicators for the month showed varying negatives, compared to May 2008. The summary of market indicators was released by TTT Hotel Monitor of the Association of Hotels of Portugal (AHP). In percentage terms, the average price per room available fell 11.22%, the occupancy rate per room showed a negative of 4.71% and the average price per room sold also registered a decrease of 6.83%. In Portugal as a whole, the May to May comparison showed a fall of 11.76% in occupancy, and a fall of 17.52% in the average revenue per room.

‘Gripe A Attacks Cruise Ship That Visits Madeira – The ship has a visit scheduled for Funchal on 2nd December’. The French authorities lifted a quarantine yesterday afternoon due to swine flu (H1N1) for the 5,000 people who were on board the cruise ship "Voyager of the Seas" that docked in Marseilles. 3,600 passengers were allowed off the ship after Gripe A tests, but another 146 people (66 passengers, and 80 crew) who were infected, or had had contact with the infected, were kept on board.

‘Madeira Promotes Itself In The North Of Europe – Action that will support the creations of new flight routes of SATA to Madeira and that will inform people about the region’. Campaigns addressed at travel agents and tour operators, in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and Finland, will be held next month. The actions are being planned under the guidance of the Association for the Promotion of Madeira, with the support of regional hotels and travel agents, and is in the form of a ‘road show’, in the cities of Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. SATA (the Azores based airline) has already set up new flights from Stockholm and Copenhagen, and it is hoped that the road shows will stimulate new initiatives. The four countries are perceived to be amongst those less affected by the crisis in tourism terms.

The regional secretary of Human Resources, Brazão de Castro, said yesterday that the Government here has "serious doubts" and "disagreements" on some of the points raised by the recommendation of the Competition Authority (AdC) on the financial aid provided by the regional government to the newspaper ‘Jornal da Madeira’, and the consequent distortions in competition in the media of Madeira.  "As a partner of the Madeira Autonomous Region there have been made financial transfers to the Journal of Madeira, with the objective of promoting press freedom, pluralism and diversity of the media" he said, adding that if the government strives to meet the recommendation of the AdC "it would need a reasonable time so as to ensure that the company and the jobs it provides are not put at risk". The Executive Director of EDN, the owners of the Diário, stressed that the current situation could have been avoided, and was not a matter of satisfaction for the company. It’s a no win situation in my opinion, with the only possible solution being to take the Journal into private ownership to ensure Madeira keeps two newspapers and healthy balanced reporting. But what sane investor would take on the Journal now, with such a bad and biased reputation, technically bankrupt, and with a cover price (which in reality is zero) that could probably never be reversed?

A Vice President of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira and a leading candidate to succeed Alberto João Jardim, Miguel de Sousa, yesterday made an appeal to the President of Portugal, taking advantage of his visit to Madeira. The appeal is for the state to pay for the extension works at Madeira Airport, which cost €200 million several years ago. The operating company ANAM has to repay the loan and the interest, and it is that overhead that is keeping Madeira’s airport charges very high and very uncompetitive, and without doubt deterring other airlines and travel companies. De Sousa argues that the state pays for motorways in Portugal, and in Madeira "the airport is our motorway". I don’t often agree with PSD politicians, but I think that is a very fair point.

‘Banks Increase Profits by 17% – The four largest private banks in Portugal profited by €760.7 million in the first 6 months’. BES, BCP, BPI, and Santander Totta together managed to make a profit 17.4% up on the same period last year. Santander did the best with €278 million, followed by BES with net profits of €246 million. BPI made the smallest profit of €89 million, but even that was ten times as much as the same period in 2008. Cost containing measures were the main contributor to the improved results.

A bonus today … Tobi’s video taken yesterday at the Madeira Wine Rally in Funchal

‘Four Flags Take The Place Of Direct Political Speech’. The law does not allow political speeches when the elections are scheduled, and yesterday, at an inauguration in Câmara de Lobos, the President of our Government explained these rules to the people who joined him in the sun for the celebration and speeches. President Jardim still spoke of autonomy and freedom, but the people didn’t need to stretch themselves too much to know what he had in mind. Indeed, on the wall of the new road being inaugurated, there were placed 4 flags of the social democrats (PSD).

‘Regional Government Should Notify Brussels About Assistance To The Jornal da Madeira – Competition authority recommends “adopting principles that avoid distortion in competition”. The government here should inform the European Commission about the financial support being given from public funds, and urges the adoption of practices that will not conflict with the principles of competition with any future funding. The competition authority concluded that the use of public funds constitutes state aid for the newspaper. If in Brussels the funding is judged to be illegal, the money injected may have to be repaid. The amount given until the end of 2007 is assessed at €23.4 million. The regulator warned that future aid given to the media, would have to conform with several principles to avoid distortion of free competition.  This would mean an objective justification based on the likelihood and impact of failure of the recipient of the aid, ensuring that the financial support was proportional to the risk, and not discriminatory.

‘Lack Of Employment Hitting All Sectors Of Activity – USAM presented yesterday an overview of the labour-political situation on Madeira’. “There is no sector of activity that is not affected by lack of employment.” This is a review of the conclusions of the labour-political situation in the region in the first half of the year, presented yesterday morning in a press conference, by the Regional Council of Trade Unions of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (USAM). Worst hit are the hotel sector, and construction and trade. Concerns in the hotel sector are  particularly worrying, because the hotel bosses are getting rid of staff for any number of reasons, and in some cases expecting remaining staff to maintain the same level of productivity after colleagues have been dismissed, singling out the Savoy Hotel “which fired dozens of workers without good reason”. I would have said that demolishing the Savoy Hotel, with government backing, was a reasonable excuse for cutting back on staff.

Madeira’s richest man lost 30% of his fortune, falling from fourth to ninth place in the rich list of Portugal. Madeiran Joe Berardo, according to the magazine ‘Exame’, will now have to manage with just €618 million.

The cruise liners ‘Queen Victoria’, ‘Oriana’, ‘Boudicca’ and ‘Saga Ruby’, have already booked their places in Funchal for the next two New Year celebrations.

(29th/30th July). A late story yesterday : ‘Travel Agents Fear Alarmist Messages About Gripe A – Luciano Jardim says that concerns led to cancellations of trips in the last few weeks’. APVAT wants to reassure the travellers. “The Gripe A virus is present the world over, and it is not necessary to leave Madeira to catch H1N1″, that’s the message being given out by travel agents to counter negative messages passing amongst the public (it just about makes sense, but I suspect it got a bit mangled in the translation). It is younger couples with children who seem to be reacting more. I don’t think this has much to do with swine flu, more like concerns about travel agents losing money. How can you morally justify persuading someone it is just as safe to go abroad when the virus presence there might be much more prolific than here on Madeira? Good for our economy too if people spend their dosh here rather than abroad.

The president of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira (ALM), Miguel Mendonca, highlighted yesterday the productivity of the regional parliament, which ended its work for the Summer. He said that in the last legislative year the assembly met 65 times, and the standing committees around 150 times. Hmmm, two ways of looking at that, firstly did it actually do anything very useful like address the real issues in a time of crisis, or just create and debate politics, and secondly, with an absolute majority that won’t allow anyone to stray from its own party line, and won’t give opposition parties any time or slack, it should theoretically be super productive.

Today (29th) is the last day anyone entitled to vote can make any changes to their voting registration, for example a change of address. All voting records now remain frozen until after the local elections, and anyone registered with an old address will have to vote in the area currently registered.

On to matters of the economy … 

(29th July). Today’s main news headline . ‘Bad Debt Increased 15% – Madeira’s companies don’t pay 2% of the money that they were asked for. They remain owing €93 million’. The companies of Madeira are suffering huge problems, reflected in the fact that bad credit has hit 2% of the money loaned to the companies by the banks, 150% up on the same month in 2008. The article is full of facts and figures about who owes what, both in commercial and domestic loans, and compared to nationally, Madeira is up to it’s neck in debt. However, its not until you get to near the bottom of the article that you find out that the headline figure of 2% of unpaid repayments is actually quite low in terms of Portugal, the worst region being 4.7%, and even the Azores registers 2.6%, and the national average is 3.3%.

The same article covers domestic loans and debt. A study by the Nacional Institute of Statistics reveals that Madeira is the region of Portugal with the highest average debt per head of population in terms of housing loans. At the end of 2008 each Madeiran theoretically owed €9,274. So now you know why Madeira has so many banks, because we love to borrow, we love to borrow more, and when it comes to repayments we are a better bet than most. In 2006 a study showed that the 76 banks in Funchal had a loan to bank ratio of €235 million, the second highest ratio in Portugal. Even Lisbon, that came third, only had a ratio of €171 million per bank branch.

‘Super Sá of São Vicente Starts In September – The new superstore will be completed next year and will employ 30 – 40 people’. Construction work will start in September, taking around 10 months to finish, with completion expected for next July. As well as Sá, there will be 3 shops and a snack bar, and a car park for over 100 cars. The full development will cover over 6,000 square metres in the zona nobre of the town. The new facility will be welcomed by most, but is feared by some small traders who will undoubtedly suffer, as happened after the last new store opened in Santana.

‘So Many Bends And Me Without Brakes’ – That’s the slogan for the rally’. The slogan is for the publicity of the Empresa de Cervejas da Madeira (makers of Coral beer) who are once again sponsors of the Madeira Wine Rally, and this year will be focusing on their alcohol free beer. The event is also sponsored by the TV channel Eurosport, who will be providing daily coverage of the event, as well as it being covered on RTP Madeira.