Madeira News Blog

(15th July). Today’s main news headline : ‘Jardim Thwarted – The Madeiran parliament pays for opinion for revisions to the constitution not in line with the thesis of the PSD-M’. It seems that the ideas presented for constitutional reform for Madeira actually throws out proposals of the PSD-M social democrats. The party is preparing to adopt a proposal to revise the constitution, a week tomorrow, that actually contradicts its own most important demands. The most important of the changes is the requirement to abolish the Constitutional Court, a key demand of PSD-M, who want its powers transferred to a Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. Even President Jardim is expected to attend the Legislative Assembly of Madeira to discuss the proposals, quite a rare event. The article does go through what the proposal contains, but it is quite complex and I didn’t understand all the points, so perhaps I will have another go when the proposal has been voted on in the parliament, in case it changes again.

‘Legislative Assembly Of Madeira Suspended – The politicians observed a minute of silence in memory of Nélio Mendonça’. The assembly is suspended for three days to mourn the loss of the ex-president of the parliament. The current president of the ALM said to the assembly that he was "a man essentially of conversation and courage that fought for the Madeiran community, for a better world, and he left his mark". 

‘Pandemic Changes Some Habits – Increases in demand for disinfectant products – Schools promote prevention to prevent closure – Discotheques and theatre attack virus – Travel doesn’t suffer changes – Sports clubs avoid alarm’. Disinfectant sales have increased in pharmacies, mainly during the last few days, directly related to alerts by the health authorities about washing our hands (for a minimum of 20 seconds with soap and water). Nationally sales have increased by an estimated 300%. The article also suggests that surgical masks are very popular at the moment. Lots of tip and advice in the article, which I have no doubt are the same in any country and readily available in English on the internet, so not worth repeating them here. The president of the health organisation IASAÚDE says that Madeira at present is the least affected region of Portugal, and guarantees that nothing is being hidden from the public, and asks the population here to maintain calm. 

‘Youth Of 15 Years Already Released from Hospital – Two more cases being analysed were negative’. She had the gripe A swine flu virus (H1N1) confirmed on Monday, but has now been released from hospital. So we are back to a clean sheet again … maybe someone up there likes us!

‘Changes Sour Wine Sector’. The instability is a threat to production. Credit availability and quality tests are factors that concern businesses. The chief of the wine association, sacked over the controversy to put an end to ‘vinho seco’ the cheap red dry wine favoured by the locals and the less well off, was well respected and trusted in the industry. The sacking has shocked many people in the industry, especially with just a month to go until harvest time. According to the explanation issued by the Regional Office of the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, the departure of Paulo Rodrigues was not due to being sacked, but by an agreement not to renew the appointment that had been in place since 2003. One producer in Seixal said "Paulo Rodrigues did not deserve to be treated this way, having done a remarkable job, courageous in the protection and improvement of the quality of grapes, acts that have provided better returns". There are quite a few comments along the same lines from others involved in the industry, and they pretty much all think it was a poor decision with poor timing.

‘Raízes do Atlântico Festival Causes Quarrel – The loss of identity of the event generates criticism’. This Atlantic Festival (not the same one as last month), has been criticised for ‘losing its identity’, but the organisers devalue the opinions. In particular this year’s festival (23rd to 25th July) does not include groups representative of the traditional music of Madeira, which were actually in the origins of the event, which was a ‘meeting of popular music’ founded by the local group Xarabanda. The festival will be in the municipal gardens in Funchal with free entry (starting 9.30pm, 23rd July).

‘Camp In Caniço Is Flooded With Fines Of SPA’. Inspectors from The Society for Portuguese Authors (copyright protection) have invaded the assembly of sellers stands outside the church in Caniço and fined every one of them. Even those not selling films or music of dubious origin were fined, for having a TV or radio switched on. The Diário says "At issue is the compulsory license to broadcast radio or television in public places. A situation we can not confirm because, despite several attempts, we have failed to contact the spokesman at the SPA".

‘Wheat Threshing In Prazeres – The Quinta Pedagógica (Zoo) makes another event for this annual initiative’. The event brings together local farmers with the aim of encouraging cultivation of wheat, with much of the end produce purchased by the Quinta. The event happens on Sunday from 10.30am, after mass at 9.30am.

From the Diário . ‘Festa da Lapa Entertains Paul do Mar – The Event runs from Friday until Sunday’. The ‘Limpet Festival’ will have dance, music, theatre, sport, fashion, arranged by the Casa do Povo. But a reader has kindly sent in a much more detailed account of the event :

3 DAY PARTY IN CALHETA in Paul do Mar village, organised by the Paul do Mar Casa do Povo starts on Friday 17th July, and runs until the early hours of Monday morning the 20th. The historic annual FESTA DA LAPA includes non-stop free entertainment in the evenings and of course fresh lapas and beers served right next to the picturesque harbour. The entertainment focus is on performances by local youth.  Highlights include the WEDDING DRESS FASHION SHOW where the village’s young ladies will model wedding dresses from the 1970’s to the present day accompanied by music hits from across the decades. The first evening (Friday) is traditional, folklore entertainment. The second evening (Saturday) is the WEDDING DRESS FASHION SHOW followed by solo artists and groups singing classic and recent pop songs. The final evening again with the focus on more contemporary music is a POP/ROCK CONCERT with bands from all over the Region: WAVEBOYS (Paul do Mar), DARK NEW LIGHT (Ponta do Sol), NEGATIVE RULE (Camacha) and COOL FEEL BAND (Funchal)
The full programme is HERE : More information on the bands including clips HERE

See you at the Festa! Paul from Paul do Mar

Load of politics in the newspapers now, a lot of it election news and issues, and particularly regarding the announcements of candidates at national and local levels.

(7th July). Today’s main news headline : ‘PSD-M Exercises Right Of Reply’. This goes back to 11th March, when the Diário published a report about the annual accounts of the social democrats of Madeira, after the constitutional court approved the accounts of the political parties for 2005. Anyway, you can imagine that the Diário picked a few holes in the accounts of the PSD-M, but it’s a long and complex article, to much to go into here. Anyway, the ‘right of reply’ published today finishes like this … "With this clarification is restored the truth about the facts that were improperly disclosed to the Madeiran people by the Diário de Notícias of Madeira and the author of the news report – Funchal, 12 May 2009 – The Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party of Madeira".

‘Fat Cats Take Holidays Almost Free’. It was a ‘hot’ topic back in 2007, and it is back again in the newspapers and in the conversation, referring to ‘Government Houses’. For most Madeirans, Summer holidays on Porto Santo Island are just too expensive, and they have to opt for other cheaper destinations. Few know about the ‘house(s) of the government’, and for those who do it is difficult to find a vacancy as demand is so high. For those lucky ones who get access, they pay just a symbolic €10 a night. The luckiest ones are our rulers, those in high places, such as the office of the president that has the right to reserve two such residences nicely located near to the beach. It seems there are also properties reserved exclusively for government use.

(6th July). ‘Constitution Of Jardim Feeds Contention – Proposal of PSD for the revision of the constitution is going to feed the war with Lisbon’. On the 22nd of this month Madeira’s legislative assembly is going to debate and vote on the proposal to revise the Constitution of The Republic, a topic which is going be of great controversy, both before and after September’s national elections. President Jardim has already said that he will attend the session to defend the proposal, something which doesn’t happen very often. The debate will focus on the autonomy of Madeira within the constitution, and although it has some support from the national leader of the PSD social democrats, it will also force the president of the republic of Portugal into the debate. The document has also been given to other interested parties for comment and alternative proposals, though it is unlikely that the PSD-M would allow any changes from opposition parties. The document, which reviews dozens of parts of the Constitution, substantially strengthens the legislative powers of autonomous regions in several sectors, including public administration. One small point of probable great controversy, is that until now the law prohibits the existence of ‘fascist’ organisations, and Jardim wants to change this to ‘totalitarian’, which may be deemed to include communist organisations who are growing in strength if the last election results are any indication. There is enough information on the matter to feed a week of blogs, but in rough terms the main proposed revisions fall in 5 groups: the creation of regional political parties and independent candidates for regional elections; regional expansion of legislative powers; redefining the system of regional referendum; removal of the office (post) of Madeira’s Representative to the Republic; and restructuring of the bodies of government. Opposition parties accuse Jardim and the PSD-M of trying to turn September’s national elections into a referendum on constitutional reform.

(5th July). ‘Candidates For The Assembly Of The Republic Cannot Also Be Candidates For Câmaras (Councils) Or Juntas De Freguesia (Parishes) the decision was made on Friday in a meeting between José Sócrates and the president of the socialist federations’. "A decision that raises the quality of democracy" said the latter person. A bit odd that, but no worries for socialists on Madeira who are unlikely to be elected to anything of consequence.