Madeira News Blog

(16th June). ‘Revalue Emigrants – Strengthen partnerships with Portuguese Abroad’. The Secretary of State for Communities, António Braga, warned yesterday of the need for the entire government to engage in the "revaluation of the Portuguese living abroad", and converting that into "concrete actions". "I speak of a population estimated at around five million people, of businessmen, that already exceed about 120 thousand companies". He believes that there is an urgency to strengthen the visibility and recognition through programs and activities "in the field of economy, culture, and preservation of language". He adds "the programs devoted to stimulating investment in Portugal have to take into account those partners living outside of Portugal". That had never occurred to me before, but it makes a lot of sense in a country of 10 million, to rope in another 5 million emigrants to buy products and materials here through their businesses abroad. Now if Madeira were to take the same approach on it’s own, if successful it would probably be out of crisis in a month, there being so many emigrants, but there is one flaw in that plan … how does one export tourism, our main industry.

’73% Of Portuguese Do Not Trust Government Policies To Combat Corruption – The majority believe that government policies are ineffective in this area’. That’s according to an international agency that specialises in this area, and means in terms of confidence the Portuguese people have the 5th lowest opinion in this area in Europe, just behind Greece and Bulgaria, with Israel leading the corruption belief stakes with 86% of their public vote. The author of the study said "corruption is now a truly global phenomenon". Was it ever any different? I am surprised that only 73% were untrusting, but perhaps the other 27% had nice cars and houses, and worked in government.

‘Permits For Foreigners Limited From Yesterday – Until the end of this year only 3,800 new permits of residents will be issued to foreigners’. I already covered this a few weeks ago, and should mention that this does not include European Union citizens who have a right to live here. The justification for the restriction is of course the economic crisis. That limit itself imposes a maximum number of 89 permits for Madeira for the rest of this year. Last year Portugal allowed 8,600 non-EU foreigners to live and work in Portugal. Associations representing immigrants felt that this was "regrettable", "disturbing", "discriminatory", "protectionist", "immoral" and "incoherent."

The Employers’ Confederation yesterday warned Prime Minister, José Sócrates, that the ‘breath’ of Portuguese companies is coming to an end, and consider that there is an urgent need to strengthen measures to support business and to revive the economy. Also, the President of the Confederation of Tourism of Portugal (CTP), asked the Prime Minister to not reduce the measures to support business in the country, because they think that the crisis is now coming to an end.

‘The Government Will Order Vaccine Against Influenza A – Only 5 to 30% of the population will have access’. That was revealed yesterday by the Health Minister Ana Jorge. "This has to do with the sectors of society that we have to cover" she says, stressing that has not yet been defined the sector of the population that should receive the vaccine. "Today, the Ministry of Health and its team are in discussion to reach a decision within a few days" she said, and was expecting the World Health Organization (WHO) "to give some guidance on who should be vaccinated, with the certainty that there will not be enough vaccine for everyone in the world".  Currently, Portugal has confirmed three cases of patients with influenza A H1N1, or Gripe A as it is known here. Ok, let me try and help start the list off … Health Ministers, families of health ministers, politicians, families of politicians, senior civil servants, families of senior civil servants … that should be the 30% quota reached already.

(13th June). Today’s main news headline : Porto Santo Closes Chinese Shop – The challenge started 3 months ago, with a petition of signatures to condemn the "invasion". The case involved SEF, Police, and the courts. The shop, in a building on the golden isle, hasn’t opened for two days’. The owner of the shop was up in court last week, and was ordered to leave the country as he was not legally allowed to be here. The clothes and accessories shop has now closed down. The case, according to the Diário, has been a considerable conflict over the last 3 months, since a petition with 25 signatures of local businessmen was given to the council. OK it was all resolved through the proper channels in the end, but from what I have read it seems some may detect a slight whiff of racism left hanging in the air. (SEF = Service for foreigners and border controls).

‘Roque Gives Hope To Personnel At The Savoy’. At a time when the Savoy Hotel is going through a controversial stage for dismissal of over a hundred workers, Horacio Roque gives a public guarantee that the company will give job priority in the new hotel to be built to former staff. The administrator of SIET that operates the soon to be demolished hotel, wished to give a sign of recognition to all those soon to be unemployed. There there, didn’t hurt that much did it, and after all it will probably take years anyway … but will he want the redundancy money refunded? And what about that rude cleaner and clumsy waiterperson, surely you’re not going to employ them again?

‘Real Madrid Pays For Ronaldo 57 Times His Weight In Gold’. That’s the headline from the Spanish newspaper ‘El Mundo’ (didn’t know I could read Spanish did you? nor did I until today). The Diário has a picture showing several Spanish newspapers, all featuring Cristiano on the front page. The Diário headline for it’s own news article is ‘Transfer Of Ronaldo Shocks – Spanish in crisis criticise so many millions spent. And there is one person of Portuguese descent in baseball that actually earns more than Cristiano’. The Diário also points out that a CR7 costs more than a Boeing 737 (although I reworded it to make it sound funnier). In fact perhaps he should now be known as CR737, what do you think?

‘Earth Tremors In South Africa Damage Houses Of Emigrant Madeirans – Four families were forced to leave their houses after hours of continuous violent tremors’. I don’t think we have much interest in emigrants living in South Africa, but of course I hope it sorts itself out OK.

The government of Madeira has decided to increase the price of fuel again, and from Monday petrol will go up to €1.20 a litre, whilst diesel will go up to €0.931.

‘Creches : Law Regulates Breaking Point. Before the existing void, only a legal intervention will be able to define what constitutes minimum services’. This goes back to the story a couple of days ago about a court case that decided that public creche services were not essential, leaving the government free to provide just a minimum service level. That means there are now just 6 creches on this island, and nearly a thousand children enrolled to use them. Now it seems no one has any idea what ‘minimum services’ actually means, and the creches themselves are being staffed by auxiliaries rather than child care professionals, just to confuse the issue.

The two public holidays Wednesday and Thursday saw 22 road accidents, resulting in two seriously injured and two light injuries. 10 arrests were made for drink driving, half of them in Santa Cruz.

The minister of health from the Portuguese government is here at a convention of charity organisations involved in health care. Ana Jorge welcomed the idea of constructing a new public hospital on Madeira, but wouldn’t commit herself on whether the state would stump up the money, or contribute. However, she added that it is a matter also under investigation by her colleagues in government, particularly in terms of finances, but there was no decision to announce yet. Of course not, that will be in the week before the national elections in 3 or 4 months, if the answer is yes, or later if no. Silly question Sr. Reporter!

She was also questioned on the subject that dominates the world headlines, influenza A and the maximum degree of alert decreed by the World Health Organization. The minister stressed that the entire national system is ready to tackle the problem, and that the testing undertaken when bird flu broke out will be capitalized in the prevention of the current pandemic. Ana Jorge also stressed the good cooperation that exists between central and regional health authorities. So flying pigs really do exist?

You may have noticed that I couldn’t resist a spoof article today … sorry, but I thought I had better come clean in case someone took the tsunami threat seriously, and I have been preparing you for this for two weeks. I bet for some it didn’t even register.

(11th June). ‘The New Junction In Pilar Continues To send People To Hospital’. The new road junction at Pilar that joins the via rápida continues to cause problems, with residents nearby saying that there accidents happening every day. One accident between two cars on Wednesday morning injured two people, who had to be taken to hospital by ambulance. One had a fracture, the other a spinal injury, but both were discharged after treatment. Other accidents are cited, and the main problem seems to be with confusion over right of way.

‘Madeira Going To Do Tests To Detect Virus H1N1 – It is not yet confirmed the first suspected case of Gripe A on Madeira. The tests had a negative result’. As mentioned yesterday, a 52 year old man was in hospital with suspected swine flu, but has now been discharged. It turns out that he is actually an American. The samples were taken to Lisbon for analysis, but from the middle of next month any such analysis will be undertaken on Madeira, with the equipment necessary expected to be delivered in the next 3 weeks.

The Regional Secretary for Social Affairs warns that in 2050 there will be an increase in the over 65′s of 112% (gradually I presume?). That follows a European trend, that the regional secretary says presents a challenge to find solutions to deal with the problem. He adds that presently there are around 800 elderly people who need to be interned, but that there are only 250 beds available through the state homes.

’2008 : The Worst In 30 Years – The weather helped production in Jardim da Serra that has it’s festival this weekend’. The cherry harvesting in the area has begun, and if the rain doesn’t come and spoil things, then it should be a much better year than last year. It’s an interesting article about the life of a cherry farmer, who not only has to worry about the crop and the weather, but also about the dangers of the job, and cherry thieves. If you know where to look, you can buy cherries at the moment at €1.80 a kilo, whereas last year, maybe because of the poor crop, the cheapest ones you would have found would have been €2.50 a kilo.

The International Business Centre of Madeira (CINM) could be a major beneficiary of an exodus of investors, that many analysts predict will hit the United Kingdom, as a result of the announcement of tax changes announced by the government of Gordon Brown. For the first time since 1997 the tax burden on high levels of income and profits will increase to 50%, a measure that will come into force in April 2010. The decision sparked a chorus of criticism from various sectors of private finance, with a threat that seems increasingly popular : Leave the country. That takes advance planning says an executive from HSBC Bank, and that companies should start taking the steps now. In an interview given, he said his company "has received an increasing number of enquiries about the possibility of relocating parts of businesses to Madeira".

‘Porto Santo Begins To Recover’. After a tough Winter, the hotels are starting to recover some of the losses from the first 4 months of this year, which in some cases were 20% worse than in 2008. A spokesman for one hotel group says that the signs are better with hotels full over this short holiday spell and with more promising indicators for the Summer season. The Porto Santo Line ferry has transported over 5,000 people over the last few days, as a result of the two public holidays coming together and close to a weekend.

Any guesses what will dominate the front page of our newspapers tomorrow?