Madeira News Blog

(4th August). Today’s main news headline : ‘Madeirans Invest €213 Million In Angola – The group ‘Irmãos Chaves’ are going to complete two projects: A logistics park and a housing enterprise’. The 600 apartment housing complex and the business park will both use Portuguese materials, or even better from Madeira if possible, explained the group administrator.

Onto politics :

‘Rui Caetano Concerned With "Hurried Works" – The PS candidate for Funchal Câmara warned about the quality and cost of the work and impact on jobs’. The socialist  candidate warned in particular about the public garden in São Martinho where workers have been working extra hours to get the job finished quickly. The article doesn’t say as much, but it is that time when everything is pushed to completion at all costs so President Jardim can get a pre-election inauguration, and score extra points with the voters.

‘All New, Save Arlindo – In Câmara de Lobos and Santana, the councillors are excluded, only Arlindo Gomes escaped’. Gomes is now the candidate for a third term to serve as president in Câmara de Lobos for the PSD-M social democrats, and that is official, as the final lists for those two regions were submitted to the tribunal that controls such election matters. The rest were excluded or have councillor positions without the right to ‘executive portfolios’ (not sure I quite understand that?). Arlindo Gomes guaranteed that the changes were "peaceful". Rui Moses will replace Carlos Pereira, who since 1984 was the candidate for the PSD-M in Santana.

‘Seven Inaugurations In A Week In Time For The Pre-Election Campaign – He returned to a wave of inaugurations. Then the president goes on holiday’. Yesterday the president of Madeira opened a roundabout and a urban renewal project in Porto Moniz, the first of 7 inaugurations, then he goes to Porto Santo on holiday. For an inauguration near you check  AUGUST PROGRAMME

‘Interest Payments Of The Programme ‘Pay On Time’ Could Be Increased – The Accounting Tribunal (auditors) have alerted that Madeira’s government is not meeting the deadlines on loans totalling €257.7 million’. An audit by the Court of Auditors (CT) warns that the Directorate General of Treasury and Finance may exacerbate the interest rate, by way of a penalty, on the money owed under the State program ‘pay on time’, for failing to meet the dates set by National Government. Money has been borrowed in several loans, and been used to pay off older loans as well as provide finance for expenditure in 2008. The audit recommends that the government here avoids taking on any new forms of debt.

(3rd August). A leftover from yesterday’s front page : ‘Member of Madeira Parliament Changes The Legislative Assembly For The Câmara Of Ribeira Brava’. The social democrat of PSD-M Rui Gouveia ceases to be a deputy in the ALM to become a councillor with Ismael Fernandes (president of the council in Ribeira Brava), and will stand in the October elections.

Finally some national stories :

This story was on the front page of the Diário : ’7 Years For Isaltino Morais – The former PSD minister will serve 7 years in prison, for corruption, abuse of power, and financial fraud. And he loses the mandate of president of the Câmara of Oerias’. Obviously a national story, but bent politicians always catch the headlines, especially around election times when newspapers are looking to influence. Did I mention money laundering as well? The man still protests his innocence, justifying a €400,000 stash in a Swiss bank account as "campaign leftovers", and other funds gained through investments and inheritances (€1.32 million in total). The social democrat was accused also of having "received money in envelopes delivered at the office of the câmara", to license lots, buildings or exchanges of land. I suppose the burning question in court was ‘were the envelopes brown?’, a crucial issue when deciding financial malpractice. Terrible thing … I just hope it never catches on here. Changing the subject slightly … António Lobo (Ponto do Sol, PSD), and Luís Gabriel Rodrigues (Santa Cruz, PSD), both ex-presidents of the câmaras in those areas … never hear much about them these days?

‘CGTP wants to increase minimum wage – Portugal are in the last place in the European Euro Zone’. The CGTP (General Confederation of Portuguese Workers) warned yesterday the "urgent need" to increase the real wages of the Portuguese, especially the minimum wage, being still "very far" from that practiced in most countries of the European Union. "The latest figures published by Eurostat on the value of the minimum wage in the European Union shows that Portugal remains far from the general level of these countries". Just Slovakia is worse. The minimum wage in Portugal will rise to €500 in January 2011, not even enough to cover the cost of living for many. Pensions here are also criticised for not keeping up with the cost of living.

248 passengers were detained before departure of yesterday’s flight between Caracas (Venezuela) and Lisbon when it was discovered there were drug mules on board. 3 passengers were detected with drugs stashed in their stomachs, but none were Portuguese. Another article says that last year 580 kilos of cocaine was seized at Lisbon airport, most of it coming from Venezuela.

(5th June). Today’s main news headline : ’40 Thousand Below €600 – Data from the INE reveal fall in the salaries of Madeira. The worst is about those that receive less than €310 per month, that has risen from 3,600 (2008) to 6,100 cases (2009)‘. The salaries on Madeira generally are showing a downward trend, as in the rest of Portugal, according to the numbers prepared by the National Institute of Statistics. Here nearly 40,000 people have monthly salaries between €310 and €600 per month, 4,100 more than at the same time last year, and reflecting more people dropping into that band through accepting lower salaries, shorter working hours, and part time work. In all the other salary bands discussed, the trend was downwards, though not quite as dramatically. The only exception was in the top salary band in the statistics, above €3,000 per month, where the trend went significantly in the opposite direction. Last year there were around 300 Madeirans in that top earnings band, but this year the number has nearly doubled. I never knew we had so many politicians and civil servants on Madeira … isn’t there an old adage that says something about the rich getting richer whilst the poor get poorer, or did I just invent that? No, I didn’t, I have just found it : William Henry Harrison (American Politician) said, in a speech in 1840 : “I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer”. I wonder if the Diário held this back for the election weekend?

The main picture is of a building, presumably the ’town hall’  in Santana, with the headline : ‘Santana Asks The Bank For €5 Million. The council assembly has a critical meeting today: it will have to authorise the request for a loan …’. The loan has something to do with the business park and plots of land, and nearly all of the 21 counsellors are primed and ready to vote on the loan issue. Principally the money will clear the existing financial burdens of the council. The PSD are for the proposal and the PS socialists against, so with 16 to 5 representation on the council, the social democrats will put the proposal through. Bit tricky to understand this one, but I have the excuse this time that the Diário unusually misspelt a critical word on the front page.

A new branch of the road ‘Estrada da Liberdade’ in Funchal was opened yesterday that connects to the new roundabout at Caminho do Pilar.

‘Madeira in London – Paulo David takes his models and drawings to the Royal Institute of British Architects’. Another Madeiran is also present there. Paulo has taken a work for exhibition in the gallery there called ‘Overlappings: Six Studies of Portuguese Architecture’. The ‘Royal Institute’ says that this exhibition “addresses the diversity of practices in a country that continues to provide an exciting context for contemporary architecture”, referring to Portuguese architecture.

Funchal Council decided yesterday to close the company set up to manage the 500 year celebrations of Funchal city, but with the assurance that all the debts would be cleared by July. At the same meeting it was decided to set up a new entity called ‘Funchal Foundation XXI’ that will be responsible for organising and running diverse events. This will need to be complete before August in order to receive funding from the regional budget.

The arrival of Bernardo Trinidade to Madeira yesterday, brought little participation. The secretary of state for tourism came over from Portugal to meet businessmen and tourism representatives to try and understand the problems they were having, and discuss proposals to get through the economic crisis. Few people turned up for the meeting to hear about support from the state and the efforts to boost tourism. In respect of the stalemate on Porto Santo with the Colombus Resort, he said “less noise is needed and more work” in order to resolve the problem.

A quick sports story, or rather football, in the final game of the old third division. Rio Maior came to play Portosantense on Porto Santo, and probably thinking there was not much at stake brought a load of youngsters in the team … they lost 17 – 0! The Diário doesn’t see the funny side of the attitude of the management of Rio Maior, and calls the result a humiliation for the youngsters … “This is not football” it says.

Hurrah! Last day of the European election campaign today, as the parties are not allowed to campaign on the weekend. Actually it has been very quiet on the streets here, all the activity has been on the radio, TV , and newspapers … next week will be all the analysis and aftermath, so it’s still far from over.