Madeira News Blog

Today’s photo – thanks to Der … Another one of those old bus photos I started showing some months back. I must emphasise that it is a photo of a photo, and I was not actually around to take this shot many years ago.

Many thanks to Elaine (East) for these website links :

The Rede – traditional transport now for hire in Funchal. HERE

The Classical Orchestra, OCM, has a new website with an English version. HERE

Many thanks to Paul for this interesting piece and the link to the WSJ video:

The socio-economic and employment situation in Madeira. Over the past decade, Madeira has seen dynamic economic growth with GDP per capita in 2003 reaching 90 % of the EU-25 average – above that of most of mainland Portugal.

Much of this growth has been driven by the increasing importance of the services sector in the economy, including real estate and tourism services, which complement more traditional industries such as agriculture and fishing. While in the past Madeirans would emigrate to find work, economic growth has largely reversed this trend and today the region has generally lower unemployment by Portuguese standards.

Employment also grew by 5 % in the decade up to 2004, in particular in the 25-44-year age group. Growth in the services sector has contributed to rising levels of female employment that reached 41.8 % in 2004, although this remained below the EU target of 60 % then. Education levels are also improving. Between 2000 and 2003 the number of workers without basic qualifications fell to 8.6 % and those with basic, secondary and higher levels of education all increased. This feature is due to earlier investments in the education and training system in Madeira.

However, among job-seekers, 3 in 4 of them have less than a secondary level of education. The number of long-term unemployed has been stable at around one-third of the total unemployed. Madeira is making extensive efforts to develop its economy and private sector in ways that capitalise on the particular advantages the region can offer, including by making significant infrastructure investments even though these are less than in the earlier 2000-2006 funding period.

To sustain economic growth and rising employment Madeira now needs to expand its labour market and provide its workers with the skills the Madeiran economy and businesses need today and in the future.

The European Social Fund. The European Social Fund, created in 1957, is the European Union’s main financial instrument for investing in people. It supports employment and helps people enhance their education and skills. This improves their job prospects.

Source: Information service of DG Employment, Social Affairs & Equal Opportunities Communication Unit, Brussels

ESF priorities in Madeira. Madeira’s strategy for ESF funding has global objectives :

-to significantly increase the level of education and training among its people, and in

particular in technology-related areas,

-to create more jobs in ways that support entrepreneurial initiatives

and the requirements of the regional labour market;

-to improve social cohesion and regional governance.

To achieve these objectives the ESF Operational

Programme has two main priorities:

Priority 1 : Education and training

Priority 2 : Employment and social cohesion

Portugal Downgrade Adds To Debt Woes. A solution to Greece’s budget woes remains elusive for the EU. Now Fitch’s downgrade of Portugal reminds investors, again, that Athens is not alone in the dark. WALL ST JOURNAL VIDEO 

Also an article on the issue and impacts from the BBC HERE

Madeira fungi                    Thanks to Pete

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

DIÁRIO 24/03/2010

FRONT PAGE NEWS

Cleaning reveals the Fontes de João Dinis. This water source has been buried for decades in the gardens that separate the Palácio de São Lourenço from the Avenida do Mar. The mudslide that hit Funchal on the 20th February entered these gardens and on removing the debris, this public water supply was uncovered. It was built 520 years ago. In 1490, Funchal Council approved the water from the ‘Altinho das Fontes’ when they built the first fort which became the Palácio de São Lourenço. Historians have identified the Fontes de João Dinis from photographs from the 1930s, before the Avenida do Mar was constructed. Photographs from the twentieth century prove that the fountain was still in good working order. The fountain is to be left on view when the centuries old pebble pavement and gardens are renovated.

MADEIRA

Luso-Canadians gather one million Canadian dollars. Over the past month, 700,000 Canadian dollars have been collected for Madeira and the community hopes to reach one million. The campaign started on TV and radio stations for the Portuguese in Canada. A festival of folklore arranged by the Canadian Madeira Club brought together 18 dance groups and the club hosted three dinners to raise money. Last weekend, the largest union for civil construction workers held a dinner for 1,100 people and collected 280,000 Canadian dollars. The union has 46,000 members of which several thousand are Luso-Canadians.

Solidarity takes three mayors to London. Miguel Albuquerque, Ismael Fernandes and Arlindo Gomes, the Mayors of Funchal, Ribeira Brava and Câmara de Lobos, respectively, will go to the solidarity dinner in London on Saturday. All 800 tickets have been sold and the organizers could have sold another 500 if the room at the Ibis Hotel at Earls Court could accommodate more. It is uncertain if the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson can attend and the event will not be broadcasted live on RTP-Madeira as previously reported. The dinner costs a reasonable 30 pounds per person including drinks. Also present will be the President of Marítimo (Carlos Pereira), Ricardo Pestana from the Banif bank, the Ambassador of Portugal, the Portuguese Consul, the Madeiran Advisor and the leader of Lambeth Council. More than 60 volunteers will help prepare and serve food and drinks. The two singers, Vânia Fernandes and Adelaide Ferreira provide live entertainment.

ECONOMY

TUI Germany should have two winter flights again. Two charter flights that were cancelled three years ago during the winter season 2007/8 are being renegotiated. Until four years ago, these flights brought 70,000 tourists to Madeira. Over the past four years, the German market along with other European markets fell by 20%. Last year, TUI brought 50,000 tourists from Germany. Negotiations are for two flights from Frankfurt and Dusseldorf with Stuttgart as another option. If the deal materialises, TUI will no longer use Air Berlin, a low-cost carrier that connects Madeira to more than a dozen German cities, although many are indirect flights. Proposals for more routes for Air Berlin to fly to Madeira are not as promising as hoped.

Reid’s Palace is one of the ten top historic hotels.  Reid’s Palace luxury hotel, part of the Orient-Express chain, is listed as the fifth most outstanding historic hotel in Europe and the United States. The list was compiled on the British Trivago hotel comparison website from customer evaluations and prices. It is cited as having an excellent location on the south coast of Funchal and a brief history of the hotel is included on the Trivago website. The top hotel is the 1861 five-star Palace Beau Rivage in Lausanne, Switzerland. The list is HERE

JORNAL DA MADEIRA

REGION

New leader of PSD will not be invited. A few days before Friday’s election of the new national leader of the PSD, Alberto Jardim warns that there will be no-one from Lisbon invited to this year’s PSD-M Festa do Chão da Lagoa. The festa is scheduled for the last weekend in July. Jardim thinks the internal bickering and intrigues will continue within the national party. Regardless of who wins, even if it is Paulo Rangel, he says the leader could not efficiently organize the party structure. Although there are 15,000 PSD members in Madeira, only 8,000 can vote at the national level. — Jardim said the national PSD would continue "um albergue espanhol" – Spanish hostel, asylum ? Anyone know what this phrase means?

RAM wants to integrate into OSPAR. A meeting of representatives from six countries in OSPAR is being held in Funchal. The inclusion of Madeira in the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Northeast Atlantic would be beneficial to the region, along with the inclusion of the Canary Islands. The Azores are already in OSPAR. This would help to protect the marine environment which is a vital resource for Madeira. This intention must be formalized by the Regional and Republic Governments. At the conference, Madeira won praise for the protection of marine species and preservation of biodiversity. Illegal fishing in international waters is a worry for the representatives and the Madeiran fishermen are having to go further out to catch fish in deep water.

Several hypotheses for the inerts stored at the bay of Funchal. The Regional Director for the Environment acknowledged that the debris stored at the bay of Funchal prejudices the image of the city. He says it was the right decision due to the circumstances of the tragedy. It is unthinkable to move the material elsewhere on land, especially to higher areas from where it could be washed down again. It would take thousands of trucks to move it all. The several hypotheses would have to be studied both economically and environmentally. The material could be kept where it is to add another zone by the sea. It could be moved to other coastal areas requiring protection from the sea, for example the bathing complexes at Lido and Barreirinha. It could be dumped at sea, as allowed by law as it is from a tragedy, and to reduce environmental impact would have to be deposited between 2,000 – 4,000 metres deep.

EVENTS

Whale sighted off the coast of Paul. A whale was spotted about 400 metres off the coast of Paul do Mar for a few minutes at around 11.30 am. It could have been a sperm whale and was offshore near the cafe area and the statue of fishermen. Although it is normal to see whales in the region, especially in this area, it is unusual for them to be so close to land. The information is recorded on a database at the Whale Museum for the regional authorities and the European Commission and used in studies and educational programs.

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

Those made homeless forgotten in Campanário – Storm left people without house losing hope : the authorities just photographed the damage.

Collapse in telecommunications obliges the move of the networks to safer locations.

Today’s main news headline : Rangel plays down autonomy – The motion of the candidate preferred by [president] Jardim to lead the Social Democrat Party set aside just one paragraph on the autonomy issues. Hmmmm … I reckon this is a bit of naughtiness by the Diário to put a spanner in the works of President Jardim’s voting plans in tomorrow’s national PSD leadership election. I don’t think Jardim cares for any of the candidates to be honest, and he has given the PSD members on Madeira his blessing to vote for who they want (theoretically at least). What would be really interesting is if Passos Coelho wins the leadership election, because Jardim hates him with a vengeance. Should Coelho win, then we will have a bizarre situation where Jardim is then more closely aligned to his new buddy, and ex-worst enemy, Prime Minister Sócrates of the Socialists, than to his own party at national level. 

Social Democrat Party already agrees to give the votes asked for by the Socialists – Another mess in the Parliament. Serrão was not elected and asked for the intervention of [president] Cavaco. At night, the PSD said that it would give the necessary votes.

Socialist Party has an alternative PEC [Programme of Stability and Growth] for Madeira.

Incentives to businesses without tax demands.

The main sport headline today : FIA confirms triumph of Vítor Sá on Porto Santo [rally] – The software used was approved. A rival of the Madeiran had claimed that the winning car had been ‘enhanced’ outside of the rules, after last weekends victory.

Football : Twist in the ‘Hulk case’ leads to resignation of Hermínio Loureiro from the League of Clubs.

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

BTW – Someone sent me an email today, one of those supposedly funny ones, titled ‘How to tell male and female birds apart [without a close inspection]. It used these two Madeiran Gaivotas to illustrate the point. I am not sure I really understood the joke, and I certainly didn’t find it at all amusing, but I thought I had better warn people that it is going around. Der

Finally, from me at least, going back a few days, there was a controversial article on the website of a Welsh newspaper, which has prompted at least 3 blog readers to comment that the article is inaccurate. The article practically claimed we suffered an event of Haiti proportions last month, and that it was necessary to flee Madeira. Have a look! and maybe also comment HERE

Update from Sheila : Alone in the garden of an empty Garajau apartment, this dog is dying from neglect. The Police know about this; SPAD knows about this and many of us know about this. Attempts to trace the owner of the dog are being made, even by the President of SPAD, Sr. Goncalo Santos himself. He told me over the telephone yesterday: "I cannot break into private property to save a dog". The English tourists, who have been staying in the flat next door to the dog, have been trying to lower water and food over the wall down to the animal. Tomorrow, these visitors are returning to the U.K. Then the plight of this dog will become even more desperate.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

(more…)

I am afraid its a lot of political headlines today, because of the visit of the leader of the social democrats to Madeira yesterday. Starting with Madeira headlines though:

(8th September). ‘Illegal Fishing With Nets Spreads In Various Zones – The commander of Zona Marítima da Madeira reveals that this year already 9 prosecutions have been instigated because of illegal fishing’. Illegal fishing with nets is "regular practice" in the Region he says. In Porto Moniz this particularly happens, however, Cândido Coelho, commander of ZMM says there are more areas where this is going on. At Porto Moniz the fishing takes place at night to avoid detection, and huge nets are used to maximise the catch. One man who came forward to expose the situation, is a diver in the waters around Porto Moniz, and says that he and his fellow divers have noticed a reduction in the number of fish, causing resentment amongst the local fishermen, but they don’t denounce the activity for fear of reprisals. Cândido Coelho explains that fishing with nets is prohibited along the coast and when done by small boats, and considers this kind of practice "very worrying", because it is a "type of fishing that is quite devastating for some species". Anyone aware of such activity is requested to notify the Maritime Police. 11 cases were prosecuted last year, with 9 more so far this year.

‘Constitutional Tribunal Devastates São Vicente’. I can’t find the story behind this headline at present, but will fill in the gaps when / if I do.

‘Quay of Santa Cruz without rules – Boats block access while the cars abuse the parking’. Users of the quay complain about the behaviour of others who block access, and drivers who use the pier as a permanent parking place. It is impossible to embark or disembark by boat says one complainant. The council were unable to offer any explanation for the situation.

‘Theatre United In The Art Centre – A group of youths from the cast of ‘The Burning City’ – play premieres on Friday’. The show in the Centro das Artes Casa das Mudas will have 5 showings until Monday. The project involves a group of young people who follow an interest in the art of Talma(?). A percentage of the money raised goes to research in medicine, sponsored by the Portuguese League Against Cancer.

An infant school in Câmara de Lobos was the only school in Portugal recognised in a European competition which attracted 1,600 entries. The school was amongst the 10 winners for producing a film about a Spring day in Europe. It’s more of a short slideshow actually, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two adults had a hand in the production. I liked it. RIBEIRO DE ALFORRA You need to select Portugal in the country list, and then the picture 4th along on the second row.

‘Columbus ‘lands’ Again On Porto Santo – The Columbus festival runs from 10th to 12th September’. The three day festival promises to liven up Porto Santo, starting on Thursday. The ‘coming ashore’ of Christopher Columbus and the parade are the high points of the festival, with a medieval fair, and a stand with typical cakes of the island for the first time. The Regional Secretary for Tourism invests around €108,000 in the event in the hope of attracting many tourists to Porto Santo. The hotel occupancy rate is hoped to exceed 50%. Can you believe €108,000 is spent, but I suppose it’s loose change up to what is spent in Funchal. Anyway if they have to revive Chris every year, that can’t be cheap.

A police search in Bairro da Palmeira, in Câmara de Lobos at the weekend resulted in 4 arrests and 1,200 heroin fixes being seized. Also over the period, there were 33 road accidents causing 7 serious injuries, and 16 arrests for drink driving.

Iran’s table tennis champ Noshad Alamiyan has won the men’s individual title at the 13th Madeira International Open MADEIRA OPEN

Politics

‘Funchal can ask for more than €43 million – The debt capacity of the local authority was confirmed by the Directorate-General’. The Directorate-General of the local authorities informed Funchal Council that its borrowing capacity for 2009 amounts to €43.5 million. The decision has confirmed the authority as a good credit risk in good financial shape, according to a social democrat counsellor. Funchal is one of the few câmaras in Portugal that has managed to maintain a significant credit rating.

Today’s main news headline : ‘PSD Stifles Opposition – Yesterday, in various gatherings on Madeira, some parties of opposition were prevented from participating in meetings of delegates for the appointment of staff for the voting tables used in the elections. The police were called to intervene in Calheta’. The social democrats were under fire again, when they left opposition politicians shut outside of various parish councils (Juntas de Freguesia), as they then chose the staff who would man the voting tables during the national elections later this month. The meetings had been scheduled for 7 pm yesterday, and in many cases took just a few minutes, catching opposition delegates by surprise. In one case a socialist delegate says he arrived 3 minutes late to find the selection process all over. That delegate in Estreito da Calheta called the police, and the matter will be reported to the National Elections Commission (CNE).

The main front page photo today is a rather bland view of President Jardim and the national leader of the PSD getting into a car : ‘Lifts’ And Insult Embarrass Leader Of The PSD – She came on a party campaign but left in a vehicle of the regional government. She denied the lift, as she did with the ‘asphyxiation’, and even went to an inauguration that wasn’t on the schedule’. President Jardim is accused of misleading his political boss, by taking her to two inaugurations in tiny Furna (Ribeira Brava), when her plan was to spend her time out on the streets. She knew she was going to Tabua to honour a counsellor with over 60 years of party service, but was unaware of Jardim’s other plans after that. That situation was confirmed by a party spokesman, who referred to the agenda that had been sent by email. As regarding the ‘lift’ in an official government vehicle, Ferreira Leite strongly denied this earlier in the day, but Jardim insisted in taking her back to the airport, and almost forced her to enter the official presidency car.

‘Manuela Ferreira Leite Guarantees To Change The Regional Finance Law If Her Party Wins The Elections Of 27th September – Leader of the PSD says that she didn’t find democratic asphyxiation on Madeira’. At the side of Alberto João Jardim yesterday morning she wandered through the streets of Funchal. In a time of pre-election campaign Manuela Ferreira Leite stressed that she could not miss a visit to Madeira, a region she says is "a bastion of unmovable PSD". It is her first visit to Madeira  since becoming leader of the social democrats. She also said that she did not feel that there is a choking democracy, contrary to what happens on the mainland. A view shared by president Jardim, who accused journalists and some politicians of not respecting the rights of local people. Of course they are both right, as democracy only happens on election day here. so how can it be choked on the other days. I did nip out late afternoon, hoping to have a word with Manuela on her visit to Ribeira Brava, and I waited an hour and a half for an exclusive interview, but she didn’t turn up. I gave up when I heard on the radio that she was unexpectedly visiting the high zones of Ribeira Brava. The democratic ‘asphyxiation’ issue was created by the socialist party, after president Jardim refused to take part in pre-election cross party political debates.

In yet another headline story related to the visit of the PSD leader, the Diário again made a big deal out of the fact that an official car of the Presidency of the Government of Madeira was used to give Ferreira Leite a lift to the airport, when her visit was for party political matters, as well as her involvement in two inaugurations which should of course be politically unbiased. It says that opposition parties see the matters as a scandal, and accuse her of double standards, and the matters have even attracted national attention. Comments are reproduced from several party spokesmen on the matter, and none very complementary. How anyone can still be shocked by the behaviour of Uncle Bertie, who it seems was the instigator of both matters of complaint? If he hadn’t done those things I would have been more surprised. I think she must be embarrassed by the matters though, as on the continent, rules such as those broken, are expected to be followed.

‘PS Lead But Without Absolute Majority’. A poll carried out by the Morning Post newspaper in Portugal, gives the PS socialists a lead in the race for power, in the national elections due to be held on 27th September. The results are PS 34.5%, PSD 28.9%, BE Left Block 10%, and CDU communists 7.8%.

UPDATE :

(In desperation, trying to get away from politics) From today’s Jornal da Madeira :

‘Porto Santo will have €7.2 million for water – Government will improve the irrigation for agriculture’. The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources said yesterday that up until the end of the current political mandate, there is €7.3m destined for Porto Santo, aimed in the main at improving agricultural water supplies, but also to include drinking water supply and waste water management. The response capacity for water needs will be for 30,000 people, far far more than the resident population.

(5th August). ‘PSD Delivers Lists For The Câmaras Of São Vicente And Porto Moniz – Jorge Romeira selects social matters and quality of life as his priorities’. The social democrats of Madeira yesterday gave in their candidates lists for the two regions, with Jorge Romeira for São Vicente and Valter Correia in Porto Moniz at the top to be presidents.

‘PSD-M Asks 54 to Zero To Thank Jardim – "Thank and repay" all that Jardim did for Madeira with absolute victory’. The achievement of one more historic result would make a great parting gift for Alberto João Jardim, by winning in all of Madeira’s 54 Freguesias (parishes), according to Rui Coelho of the social democrats. The party wants to achieve the result with humility and not send Madeira into euphoria. In the previous local elections the PSD-M won 50 of the 54 majorities, with just Gaula, Água de Pena, Achadas da Cruz and Prazeres bucking the trend.

In anticipation of the visit of president Jardim to the expansion zone in Ponta do Sol town, the PS-M socialist party had a large sarcastic poster made and displayed, that one couldn’t fail to see. It headlined "€42.5 million thrown overboard – what happened to the 80 jobs promised", with other highlights of the government flagship disaster project … Lugar de Baixo marina. That was in the Diário.

The ‘response’ was in the Jornal da Madeira : "The People Know What They Have To Do" – The president of Madeira referred to the embargos placed on works’. President Jardim yesterday pointed the finger at those who suspend works, accusing them of preventing development and the creation of jobs. At the inauguration of the road in Ponta do Sol and other new infrastructures, Alberto João Jardim mentioned the project in the area of Lugar de Baixo. "As you know, there is a great work that someone has stopped because of an embargo", continuing "the people know who embargoed that work", and "who caused that years ago …  not creating the jobs that should have been created, and the lack of economic activity that should already exist. "The people know who did it, and therefore, the people also know what they have to do" said the president. By this time I was feeling a little unwell, so I set the Jornal on fire and threw it off the balcony (metaphorically speaking of course). Uncle Bertie passing the buck is of course not a novel phenomenon for most of us, but in this case his arrogance is breathcurdling. Rumour has it that it was him who commanded the building of marina in the somewhat rougher seas of Lugar de Baixo, when it was all set to safely go in the more sheltered waters of Ribeira Brava. On another subject, where is António Lobo, the ex-president of Ponta do Sol these days?

Enough of politics …

‘Port Taxes Could Rise After Completion Of The New ‘Port Structures’ – Conceição Estudante believes that services and costs should be covered’. The Government may consider an increase in port fees charged in the port of Funchal after the completion of the works. The issue was raised by the Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport yesterday morning during a visit to the works in the port of Funchal. She said that the prices update will reflect economic developments, in order not to jeopardize the level of use by making the port too expensive. She added that the current rates in the port of Funchal are among the lowest on the Atlantic circuit. The new infrastructure is costing €12.8 million, and should be completed in December.

’8 Visits In August – Pacific Dream, Aurora, Costa Europa And Black Prince Are Expected’. Eight cruise ship visits are expected this month, in line with previous years, but 4 of those are from ‘Pacific Dream’.

(4th August). This is another one from the dark side : ‘More Hotels Are Likely To Close During The Winter – A meeting to be held between hotels this week could be conclusive’. With the Summer peak still flowing, some hotels on Porto Santo are already thinking ahead to the coming Winter. The strategy adopted last year is certain to last, with hotels that include the Praia Dourada and Pestana Dunas, again closing for 4 months to cope with the high running costs and strong seasonality of tourism. Rumours are that in addition the Hotel Vila Baleira and Torre Praia are considering the same solution. This would be a great challenge for a great marketing mind, to overcome the stupid notion that Winter is not beach time, when you have a beautiful island, a 9km golden beach, cheap top hotels, and great weather nearly all year around. Porto Santo is a ready made success story, that continues to fail, probably because it is just too small to survive alone and too under sourced to market itself. I stayed there at the beginning of February a couple of years ago, and the beach and sea were great, and it was plenty warm enough when the sun was out … but when it is not, there is little to do for the average holiday maker, so you do need to have plan for that eventuality.

(3rd August). This from the Norwich Evening News (UK) : ‘New Destination For Norwich Airport Passengers’. Holidaymakers can now enjoy the destination of Madeira from Norwich airport on two special dates next year. The flights will depart on Wednesday, April 14 2010 and April 21, 2010, courtesy of Newmarket Holidays, with following departures likely to be announced at a later date. Elliott Summers, managing director of Norwich Airport said: “Newmarket Holidays has long been offering our passengers a selection of destinations to the local population and we are very pleased they have picked up on the local demand for Madeira”.