Regional Finance Law in the balance ; Underwater Xmas tree ; SWAT on Madeira
Today’s Photo Thanks to Derek … Monte Palace
This weekends football : Nacional visit Paços de Ferreira tonight. 8.15 pm on SportTV1. Marítimo host Rio Ave on Sunday. 4 pm, but not televised.
Parliament: Law regulating financing of autonomous regions under national scrutiny. The Azorean Parliament’s Economy Committee is studying the legislation that regulates the financing of the autonomous regions to determine whether the new proposal put forward by Madeira may cause the Azorean archipelago to lose the positive discrimination it currently enjoys. Madeira president Alberto João Jardim never accepted the changes to the calculations of State revenues apportioned to the Autonomous Regions, despite those being passed by the Assembly of the Republic in 2007. Until these changes were made, Madeira had always received more money than the Azores, a situation that Prime Minister José Sócrates rectified in order to redress uneven development in the nine island of the Azores. Now that the PS has lost its absolute majority at national level, the Madeira PSD brought out an old proposal which could restore the pre-2007 legislation setting out financing for the autonomous regions. MORE ON RTP AZORES
The new Regional Finance Law is due to be voted on in Lisbon tomorrow, and it is going to be very tight, with the governing socialists voting against, the social democrats voting for, and various smaller parties sitting on the fence because of the situation in the Azores. It may even be a 97 – 97 tie.
Many thanks to Elaine once again for yesterdays top news stories :
A classic in port. The Port of Funchal hosts since the beginning of yesterday afternoon, one of the most emblematic mega yachts ever on a routine visit and allowing medical treatment of a member of the crew. The Talitha G sailed from Gibraltar and is bound for Antigua. It will moor until 12.00 on Friday. The mega yacht was built in 1927 and named Reveler until 1937 when it was renamed Chalen. It served with the USA Navy during the second world war under the title USS Beaumont. After the war, the boat was privately owned and renamed Elpetal and was a favourite of Winston Churchill. In 1983, due to a change of owner, it became the Zezebel. There was a serious breakdown in the main engine during a crossing from the USA to Europe in 1993 and it had to be towed to Lisbon where it was repaired and refurbished and renamed the Talitha G. It has a crew of 18 and can host up to 20 people.
Santa Cruz will have a ‘low-cost’ petrol station. A new petrol filling station will open at Tendeira in Caniço next year. It will be the third low-cost station in the country and the first in the region. The group of companies (AECCP) who run these stations want to try to combat rising fuel prices. The station is placed in Santa Cruz as "The county offers strategic conditions so they can offer Madeiran businessmen fuel at a lower price than they currently have." The proposals will only benefit members of ACIF (Association of Commerce and Industry) who must be associated with AECCP whose membership costs ten Euros. The Mayor of Santa Cruz is pleased with this project as the Council is a strategic partner and will benefit from more competitive prices.
Wild globalization responsible for crisis. Conference at Machico yesterday, The Wild Invasion of the Commercial Area of Madeira by Trade of the ‘Rising Sun’. The President of the Union of Businessmen of Small and Medium Businesses in Portugal, Pedro Fernandes, made the accusation that globalization and public policy makers are responsible for the current global crisis. These two are responsible for widespread unemployment, the debt of the country, ruin and poverty, family imbalances, social exclusion, desertification and imbalance of public accounts. He discussed the unfair competition of the Chinese market and the impact it may have on Machico. The conference was attended by some of the top businessmen who have invested in the city, including Jorge de Sã. The speaker had been a textile firm manager for 50 years and said his factory closed due to lack of government support. Machico does not require the installation of a large area of Asian trade and the opening of the Chinese store will ruin traditional trade. The Chinese stores are exempt from taxes for 5 years.
Arrested alleged drug dealer was attempting to escape justice. A 20 year old man was arrested on Monday at the airport while attempting to fly to England. He was trying to escape the Autonomous Region and Portuguese Justice. He was involved in several cases under investigation relating to seizures of hashish this year, amounting to 7,000 doses. That was why the police were at the airport to prevent him leaving. He is now on remand in prison.
Police seize more than 1 kg of heroin. 900 grams or enough for 10.500 doses if left unprepared, was seized last weekend in Livramento in Funchal. A 35 year old man from Guinea-Bissau was arrested. The police action was after over two months of investigative work which had led to two other arrests for drug trafficking. These two were also of Guinean nationality and had in their possession 2,100 doses of heroin. The third man was a cousin of the first two arrested and the heroin was found in the carcass of a television set in the house which the other two had previously rented. He initially argued that the television did not belong to him but was eventually charged. The drug has a high state of purity and the number of doses could be increased by cutting and processing to increase profits but make it less harmful to the consumer. The police think the heroin was destined for consumption over the holiday season at several locations in Madeira.
Pinheiro adorns the sea. Since last Saturday, the divers near the Hotel Pestana Palms have been surprised by an underwater Christmas tree. The new initiative came from the Madeira Diving School, ‘Tubarão Madeira Mergulho’. The manager said, "Funchal is already decorated and we wanted to do something fun for all customers when they come to dive." They placed the tree on the sea bed then decorated it, not a long or difficult operation because the tree was already prepared and the Christmas balls filled with water so they do not drift off. To secure the tree, they took a wooden ladder down and braced the tree until the decorating was finished. In the past few days, the tree has remained unaltered and until the fish became accustomed to the decoration, they tried to eat the balls. They will keep the tree on the sea bed until the New Year and if still in good condition, it will be put back in the same site next year. —- Plenty of photos and a video on Diário site. (The type of story I love to read).
SWAT training in Madeira. Eight elements of the Marine Police Force, 4 from the Azores and 4 from Madeira, are this week attending a Special Weapons and Tactics training course. Yesterday’s training at Caniçal was successful; they approached a suspected vessel at speed to test entry into the vessel, the control of suspects, searching and seizure of materials. The course also involves weapons training, situations and risk assessment and decision making. The Marine Police are responsible for maritime safety, preservation of the marine eco-system and the fight against crime at sea, especially trafficking.
PS unhappy about ‘fantasy’ budget figures. The Socialist Party have criticized the budget planned for 2010. The budget is unrealistic with inflated revenues and excess indebtedness, direct and indirect. They say 40% of the budget revenue comes from unproven sources and only 60% can be accounted for, leading to more debt. Their figures indicate 1,200 million Euros of direct debt and 1,500 million Euros of indirect debt (not the stated 1,100 million) and with other debt, the total will reach 5,000 million Euros which exceeds the GDP of 4,700 million Euros, (125% GDP). It is difficult to see how Madeira can pay these debts without jeopardizing quality of life. —- There is at present political panic in Madeira over the vote on the budget amendment to the Law of Regional Finances in Lisbon tomorrow, which will allow a 129 million loan needed to pay suppliers. If only the PSD and PCP vote in favour, the PS vote against and the CDS-PP and BE refrain, there will be a tie with 97 against and 97 in favour.
Christmas news. From today until January 6 in the streets of Funchal, there will be 8 people dressed as Santa Claus selling balloons and 8 food / drink vendors. Between 14 – 24 December, 3 toy sellers and 15 vendors of seasonal foliage. Christmas Market opened yesterday at the Regional Directorate of Youth, Rua 31 de Janeiro in Funchal. 15 youth associations have combined forces and there will be on sale until December 11, cribs, liqueurs, bolos de mel, handicrafts and embroidery. An exhibition of ‘ecological cribs’ opened today in the lobby of Funchal Town Hall and will be there until 7 January. The cribs are made from recyclable materials by members of 26 institutions, from schools to community centres and homes. SATA announced today that it will increase flights from Madeira between December 29 – January 4. More than 28 flights corresponding to over 5,300 seats. TAP has already announced an increase in flights to Lisbon (96 flights, 14,248 seats) and 54 flights between Madeira and Porto (7,318 seats). SATA will operate another 120 flights (10,500 seats) to the Azores. TAP increases flights to the island of Horta, Pico and Terceira.
Radical Laurissilva plan. The Municipality of Porto Moniz is to promote the Laurissilva in relation to tourism. To promote walking activities, tourist paths will be recovered and signposted. Areas for canyoning, paragliding and surfing, waterfalls, ponds, viewpoints and levadas will be indicated on a comprehensive route map.
Casa d’Avo Beatriz. Jardim inaugurated the new unit for Rural Tourism in Gaula yesterday. The Casa d’Avo Beatriz resulted from an investment by one of Beatriz’s grandchildren, António Rodrigues, with additional funding. The house has seven double rooms and will open on January 1 2010. It is a traditional country house adapted for tourism, including a swimming pool, while keeping the original features. The house is situated in Rua D. Felicidade, no 12, in Achada de Gaula de Cima.
Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :
PSD social democrats try to avoid two failures in São Bento – Luís Miguel França could be decisive in the approving of the Regional Finances Law. The negotiations continue today itself. The story has already been covered in part above, and no doubt later today we will know how the voting went.
Today’s main news headline : Bad debt triples – The debts to the banks grew in the last year. On Madeira they already represent €180 million and confirm that individuals and companies are living in stressful situations. They are the more prominent numbers during the crisis. In September the bad debt situation hit the highest level on Madeira in recent years, hitting 3.7%. A year ago the percentage of bad debt was 1.25%. The disturbing figure remains below the figure nationally of 4.4%, but in the last two quarters alone the figures have galloped on by 0.9 and 0.8%. According to statistics from the Bank of Portugal, loans granted on Madeira amounted to €8.06 billion, but applications are slowing. That final figure seems to be just for company and individual loans, but it is not made absolutely clear that regional and local government borrowings are excluded.
The main photo on today’s front page shows children and teachers looking through a high fence at a sports court : It has been ready four years but was never used – A disagreement between the Madeira government and Metropolitana impeded the use of the enclosed court in Porto da Cruz. The children in the adjoining schools (pre-school and basic) were never given the all-clear to use the sports facility built by the Sociedade Metropolitana de Desenvolvimento (SMD), and in fact no one has ever used it. The SMD says that it is now trying to negotiate with the Secretary for Education to change that, so the school children can use it, and it can stop being a ‘deposit’ for various types of rubbish. A spokesman for SMD wouldn’t go into reasons for the long delay, but no doubt someone somewhere will add this to the long and growing list of Uncle Bertie’s ‘white elephants’.
‘Market Night’ expanded into more streets - Requirements to accommodate street sellers soar. The base area for ‘Night Market’ in Funchal will be extended this year. The news was announced by counsellor, Rubina Leal, who justified the council decision with the growing number of applications for trading spaces on the night of 23rd December. Details are not all available yet, but as well as the usual streets and locations (the area surrounding the farmers’ market, and also Rua Dr. Fernão de Ornelas, Rua de Oudinot and Anadia, Pelourinho, Praça da Autonomy, Rua D. Carlos I, etc.) the area around the EEM / Electricity Museum will also be utilised. Discussions also have to be completed with the emergency services to ensure the safety of the expanded event.
In the market of Penteada there are licenses that expired a year ago. The council decides to exempt payment of rent for three months.
Cinema inspires ”New Year ‘ in the IVM.
Platini wants more referees on the pitch – The president of UEFA football dined in the Quinta Vigia. Platini’s comments come prompted by the famous handball that saw his nation France qualify for the world Cup at the expense of Ireland. Platini says he was embarrassed by the referee, who didn’t see the deliberate handball by the French attacker Thierry Henry. "I am doing my best to put more eyes to assess the game", he said, referring to some new measures of UEFA, like the placing of more officials to improve the work of the refereeing team. There will be more refs than players soon! I used to cope years ago with just one referee on the pitch, no linesmen, and the honesty of the players. No doubt Uncle Bertie was giving football’s top man some advice on how the game should be run, from his immense experience as Marítimo’s number one fan and benefactor (with taxpayers money of course). No doubt we will be hearing soon that Marítimo have qualified automatically for next year’s Champions League, but that will be after Platini will have been spotted leaving at Madeira airport, with several crates of Madeira Wine and boxes of bolo de mel … just gifts of course
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 . On a wet and windy day like today, surely someone has some time on their hands?
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Tradition of singing the Charamba dying. The cold was felt at the site of the mill Ti Jesuina situated at Estrada Camacha/Poiso but it did not cool the enthusiasm of the participants at the Fifth Meeting of Xarambistas. The event was scheduled for 15.00 but started at 16.00 The five participants ranged from the ages of 70 to 81 years old and were accompanied by a 49 year old playing the viola de arame. An enthusiast lamented: "The charamba is dying because children are not interested in this artistic expression that comes from our ancestors. And the people who sing, because of their age, also are disappearing."
Edificio Santa Luzia wins award. This is one of the contemporary Portuguese buildings to receive the award IHRU 2009, to promote municipal and regional buildings. Designed for the Housing Investment of Madeira (IHM), the award is from the Institute for Housing and Urban Regeneration. This apartment block contains 10 apartments for people with reduced mobility and includes an elevator, garden and communal room. It is designed for single people or couples, especially the elderly.
The port is too small for the number and size of cruise ships visiting. The photo taken yesterday illustrates the problem; when two large cruise ships berth at the South Terminal and another at the North Terminal, the port has exhausted 90% of its capacity. The increase in length and tonnage of cruise ships means that for 18% of days of this year, the port has exhausted its capacity. The large cruise ships circuit can include Southern Portugal, Madeira and the Canaries. A large ship can represent an income of 12 -18 thousand Euros for APRAM (Ports Authority) and another 150,000 Euros in revenue for companies that provide tourism services. On December 15, there will be four large cruise ships visiting meaning that the Oriana has to berth offshore. The passengers are mainly over 70 years old and many will be unable to use the ship’s tenders to visit the island. Eight cruise ships are already booked for the last night of the year. A ship unable to berth and having to stay offshore looses the Administration of Ports 40% of revenue and penalizes local businessmen, as only 30% of passengers come ashore. The present investment for development of the port is the most important decision taken for a long time due to the limited size and increasing size of ships visiting. This topic was continued in another article stating that next year, there will be 24 days when the Port of Funchal cannot receive any more ships. 20% of days there will be three ships and for four days there are four cruise ships booked, and for another three days, five booked simultaneously. March, April, November and December are the months when capacity is limited. In 2010, there will be newer and larger cruise liners visiting. The new Queen Elizabeth is due on 21 October 2010.
‘Limpar Portugal’ has volunteers in Madeira to clear the forests of illegal dumps. The day of action to implement the initiative ‘Clean Portugal’ is March 20, 2010. The aim is to clear away illegal dumps in the forests and promote environmentally sustainable behaviours. On the mainland there is strong uptake of the project but it is lower in Madeira, 76 volunteers in total. 36 are in Funchal, the groups ‘MAD’, ‘Garajau’ (2), ‘MCH – Machico’ (3), ‘SCR – Santa Cruz’ (5) and ‘Madeira’ (17). This initiative started in Estonia in 2008 and it will be Portugal’s turn next year. The motto is ‘Let’s clean the Portuguese forest in one day’ and details are on the website 
Free Santa Maria trips. The ‘Santa Maria de Colombo’ owners are offering free trips to pupils, people from social security institutions, Casas do Povo and others. Like previous years, trips will be for one hour every Tuesday morning in November and from January to March. Last year, the offer was taken up by 1,260 students and 281 people from other institutions. Since 1999, when the initiative began, they have carried 26,000 people for free. —– Nice to have a ‘good news’ story. I don’t know why this initiative started.
Police arrested 31 people on Saturday night/Sunday morning under a Special Crime Prevention Operation. More than 1,000 vehicles monitored in Quebradas, São Martinho on the highway from Câmara de Lobos. The drivers were screened for alcohol and the cars searched for arms. 31 arrested for drug trafficking, driving under the influence of alcohol, possession of prohibited weapons, possession of drugs and lack of legal authorization to drive. Among the weapons seized were two extendible poles, three knives and three baseball bats. Five vehicles were seized. The operation lasted six hours with 83 police officers in attendance.
Curral das Freiras crowded as there is a call to invest in regional products. There was a promise by the Regional Secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources to deliver 21 million Euros this year to 11,000 farms in Curral das Freiras. This was at the XXVI Chestnut Festival which was attended by thousands of people. There is 165 million Euros in the Regional Budget and the State needs to contribute €30 million for investment in agriculture and fisheries. Farmers’ incomes are increasing thanks to aid granted by the Regional Budget and the EU.
