98 posts
Portugal's Constitutional Court Blocks Bailout Measures
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Portugal's Constitutional Court has struck down austerity measures considered necessary by the government to meet the conditions of its 78-billion-euro (101 billion US dollars) bailout program, opening a billion-euro gap in the country's 2013 budget.
Portugal: An Open Letter to Germany
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Portuguese economist and researcher José Maria Castro Caldas published an open letter to the citizens of Germany on the website of the Initiative for a Citizen Audit of the public debt. The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel will be on an official...
Portugal: Initiative Against Proposed State Budget
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The interest rates on the public debt are “the only expenses that can be cut without recessive effects, bringing benefit to the liberation of resources for investment and job creation”, states [pt] the Democratic Congress of Alternatives...
Portugal: Media Sector Struggling in Hard Times
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A four-day strike by Portuguese news agency Lusa's workers, against 30% cuts recently announced in the 2013 Budget and more, may represent the starting point for a broader discussion about the role of journalism in democratic societies, in their vari...
Portugal: Citizen Digital Activism
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The atmosphere of growing indignation lived in Portugal in face of austerity measures, imposed by government at the command of the troika, has served as the trigger for more and more initiatives that bring new takes on the potential of digital media...
Portugal: Siege to Parliament Live
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Thousands of protesters in Lisbon are gathered in front of the Assembly of the Republic, in response to a call for a “Siege to São Bento [Palace]” [pt], the home to Portuguese Parliament. The protest is being livestreamed on bambuser, on Twitte...
Portugal: Global Noise Cultural Protest in Images
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In Portugal, October 13's Global Noise pot-banging protests took the form of performing arts and cultural demonstrations in 14 cities, under the motto "Screw the troika! We want our lives". In this post we gather a selection of photos and videos from...
Iberian revolt continues
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Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards and Portuguese rallied in the streets of their countries’ capitals Saturday to protest against deepening austerity plans imposed by their right wing governments. In Madrid, demonstrators sought to ‘encir...
Portugal: Unionists Take to the Streets in Protest
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Following the biggest popular protest of the last decades in Portugal, on September 15, 2012, every week people have been taking to the streets. More demonstrations were called for September 29, “against the theft of wages, pensions and retirem...
Portugal’s protest movement unites to fight the cuts
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Portugal’s anti-austerity protest this Saturday promises to be another big one after the organisers that brought as many as a million into the streets on September 15 swung behind the demonstrations and rallies planned by the CGTP trade union c...
Portuguese Prime Minister Finds Himself Under the Cosh
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Things aren't looking bright for Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, writes Patricia Kowsmann.
Portugal: Massive Protest Against Troika Sparks Momentum
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The biggest demonstration of the last decades in Portugal took place on September 15 2012 , under the anti-austerity motto "Screw troika! We want our lives". Nearly 1 million people took to the streets to protest against the government. Beyond discon...
They will sink Portugal as they have done with Greece
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By Juan Torres López They are still applying cuts in Portugal (and Spain) although they do not work and produce (as critical economists have warned) the opposite effect to that predicted by the neoliberal authorities. They have imposed brutal increa...
Portugal: More Austerity, Why's the Revolution Taking So Long?
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The Portuguese government led by Pedro Passos Coelho is increasingly distancing itself from its electoral promises and from the path which it promised to follow during the election period, generating a wave of discontent which is manifesting itself p...
The 'forgotten man' of the euro crisis catches a break...
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While everyone is gearing up for the EU's 'Super Wednesday', Portuguese Finance Minister Vítor Gaspar has made a quite important announcement. As we anticipated in our daily press summary more than two weeks ago, following its fifth monitoring missi...
Portugal having a better time of it…
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That’s Portugal’s 5-year CDS back below 500bps for the first time since March 2011 (we threw in Spain and Italy too as they have tightened a fair bit and we had load of chart space)....
Portugal: Public Television on the Way to Being Privatised
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“Portugal will be the only country in Europe without a public radio and television service.” This was one of the first outraged reactions on Twitter, soon after the (un)official announcement of the proposal to privatise Portuguese Public Televisi...
The ECB’s possible Portugese gambit
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Draghi-day is just around the corner and JPM’s Malcom Barr is of the opinion that the ECB might just kick off its move by purchasing short-dated Portuguese sovereign debt....
Dealing in the dark: Portugal’s sad defence contracts
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On 06 September, Transparency International releases its annual report on enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Right at the time the European Union is consumed with the debate over the debt crisis and politicians across the EU are busy pl...
Portuguese, a Global Language?
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A community page on Facebook, Língua Portuguesa: Uma Língua Global? (Portuguese Language: A Global Language?) [pt], provides a diversity of materials to promote the debate about the expansion of Portuguese language and its consequences. Several cri...
Portugal and a second bailout
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Chalk this one up to the ‘second bailout, no PSI‘ trade, maybe — Portuguese government bonds have been a top performer so far this year.So, as for that second bailout…...
Optimistic Passos ‘on another planet’ say critics
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Portugal’s prime minister is ‘living on another planet’ unions said this week after Carlos Passos Coelho predicted that investment in the crisis-hit economy would bounce back next year. The right-wing premier’s upbeat assessme...
Beja Airport – The Analysis Paralysis Infection?
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So the sad saga of Beja airport analysis paralysis continues, only one passenger flight fly’s to Beja airport from Heathrow per week? One security guard guards an empty airport, believe me I have been there and seen it. The good news is ANA...
Portugal: Tugaleaks Bank Account Deemed as Terrorist and Closed
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Website Tugaleaks, which aims to serve since December 2010 as Portugal's Wikileaks, had its bank account for donations arbitrarily closed on July 13 with no official communication [pt]. Tugaleaks contributors were finally told the account had bee...
Portugal: Troika, government blamed for 25% rise in numbers signing on
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The number of people signing on at job centres in June in Portugal increased to 645,995, a 24.5% leap compared to a year earlier. That’s a rise of 127,250. The Portuguese Communist Party described the figures as ’alarming’ and blam...
Portugal – Please Switch The Lights Off When You Leave!
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The recent decision by the Portuguese constitutional court to unwind public sector salary cuts included by the government in its austerity measures has once more given rise to speculation the country may not meet it’s 4.5% deficit target for 20...
The challenge to Portugal’s health service is not an ageing population, but how best to organize healthcare delivery
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Many European countries now face the demographic challenge of an ageing population that many predict will strain public services, including healthcare, to a near breaking point. Pedro Pita Barros argues that Portugal is unlikely to witness an explosi...
How Portugal Found Itself in Crisis
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Despite Being a Well-Managed EconomyNY Times Article on Crisis in Portugal2011 IMF Country Report PortugalThe story of Portugal is one of how a small, soundly run economy can be battered by unstable market forces in its immediate environment. Prior t...
Fresh anti-austerity protests hit Portugal
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Thousands marched in Lisbon Saturday against the austerity measures of the right wing prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho. The protest, organised by the CGTP trade union confederation, follows marches and rallies in the country’s second largest...
Tens of thousands march in Portugal against austerity
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30,000 portuguese marched Saturday in Portugal’s second biggest city of Oporto demanding a change in the right-wing government’s austerity policies. The demonstration was organised by the CGTP union, which has 600,000 members. General Sec...
Portugal: 30,000 in protest against ‘pact of aggression’
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Thirty thousand marched in Lisbon Saturday to protest against the bail out plan, or ‘pact of aggression’ one year since it was agreed between the Portuguese government and the IMF-EU-ECB Troika. Attacks on public services, welfare, risi...
Not everyone is feeling the pain in Portugal
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What with record unemployment, a massive squeeze on incomes and welfare and public services being slashed, it’s tough for the Portuguese these days. Not for all of them, mind you. Not the shareholders and top executives of Portugal’s bank...
Rally against austerity, labour reforms ‘historic’ say Portuguese communists
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Today’s rally against austerity and regressive labour ‘reforms’ in Lisbon was an ‘historic event,’ the biggest in terms of popular support for over 30 years, according to Jerónimo de Sousa, general secretary of the Port...
Protests promised in Portugal over rail fare hikes
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PORTUGAL A Plataforma das Comissões de Utentes da Carris, the Platform of Committees of Rail Transport Users, has promised to organise protests in the coming days over sharp rises in fares for rail transport announced by the right wing government of...
Portuguese face deepest pay cut in over quarter of century
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The Portuguese will see biggest fall in pay next year since 1985 and the sharpest drop in the 27 countries of the EU, according to the union of technical public employees (Sindicato dos Quadros Técnicos do Estado e de Entidades com Fins Públicos).
Union accuses Portugal Goverment of ‘subverting’ democracy
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The leader of Portugal’s main CGTP trade union has accused the government of refusing dialogue and “subverting” democracy in its drive to change labour laws under an austerity bailout programme. Manuel Carvalho da Silva forecast that the centre...
Contagion Beyond the Headlines: Portugal and Eastern Europe
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The E.U. states of Greece and Italy were grabbing headlines during the first two weeks of November 2011, given the dramatic resignations of Papandreou and Berlusconi. The only other state to get some attention was France. The Wall Street Journal note...
Portugal and the Troika Assessment
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Some time ago I was writing to say that there were some news about the austerity measures sugested by the Troika to the Portuguese Government in order to control the Public Budget and Debt. It is commonly known that in spite of all the hard times Por...
A Portuguese silver lining?
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Financial markets today have been whipsawed yet again by data showing the one bright spot on the eurozone’s economic horizon – the German growth engine – may be faltering. But Eurostat’s quarterly report on the currency region’s economic he...
[New] Portuguese Politics & Economics and the World
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The recent Portuguese PSD-CDS/PP coalition Government received a heavy burden to be shared with all the Portuguese people. Eventhough the Portuguese people don’t have the complete knowledge needed to answer the main question: “Why?R...
Before another Greek bail-out, a first look at Portugal
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If the Greek crisis has taught us anything over the past few weeks it’s that going from a bail-out back into the financial markets is hard, and any rescue programme should be very conservative when it comes to estimating how …Continue reading...
Portugal's deceptive shift to the right
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It's a clear majority on paper, but messier in reality.The polls in Portugal have been closed for an hour, and it is already clear that the Socialist Party led by Jose Socrates have been thrown out of office with its worst showing since 1987, an...
Sometimes you can't have both: democracy and the euro
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There is a fundamental tension between democracy and the euro that is playing itself out in the South of Europe today. Daniel Oliveira of the Portuguese newspaper Expresso wrote this week that Portugal is being treated like a colony by the North, whe...
The last 400 years and the next four
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Four hundred years ago Portugal was going through its first experience of European political integration. Today we call it the “age of the Philips” and it makes us think of Spain, but only by ignorance. The Philips belonged to a … C...
Ecofin: Eurozone bailout Portugal
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It is a telling sign of weak EU structures that the chief outcome of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) is produced ”in the margins” of the Council: Statement by the Eurogroup and ECOFIN Ministers (16 May; no document identifier)...
FT video: Portugal’s bail-out
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Portugal is to get a €78bn ($116bn) bail-out from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the third eurozone country to receive emergency external funding. Lex's John Authers and Vincent Boland discuss if it's enough to resolve the...
Portugal and the bail-out enigma
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Gradually the details are emerging of the EU's third bail-out deal. Portugal will be offered 78bn euros (£70bn) over three years. It is a substantial loan and higher than some expected. A total of 12bn euros will be set aside...
Parliamentary Election Surveys in Portugal
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With many thanks to Marktest for making this publically available. There are some interestingly consistent discrepancies between surveyors… Nonetheless, we can see that most surveys have the opposition PSD loosing ground to the PS in recent day...
Bailouts, austerity and democratic legitimacy – it’s not pretty, but politics is working in Europe
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By Phillip Souta Jose Socrates, the prime minister of embattled Portugal, tendered his resignation on 23 March after failing in a last ditch attempt to get a raft of austerity measures through parliament. New elections are to be held on 5 June.
Portugal: the danger is not over
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LISBON The threat of a bail-out had been hanging over Portugal for months. It perhaps explains why the initial reaction to the request for help was so muted. But talking to people in the warm sunshine you discover a different...
Last post for Portuguese democracy
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This will be my last post on this blog I’m afraid, as you can tell from my absence there have been some problems. It will be goodbye from me, on this forum at least. You can follow me doing my day job here. But by the way of a farewell… O...
EU summit: Anxiety over Portugal’s woes
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The Liberal Democrats chose the elegant Palais D'Egmont for their pre-summit gathering. While the leafy grounds are gorgeous - particularly on a very un-Belgian sunny day - the mood was anxious.Continue reading: "EU summit: Anxiety over Portugal̵...
EU summit: Portuguese opposition leader hopes against bail-out
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The pre-summit caucuses of leaders in their party groupings have begun, and one of the surprise guests at the centre-right European Peoples' Party meeting is Pedro Passos Coelho, the head of Portugal's opposition Social Democrats and the country's li...
Euro Update(18): Portugal in the dangerous month ahead
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I mentioned that the Portuguese Finance Minister wasn’t very happy with the result of the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers that took place on Monday. I’m putting my money on the fact that the vote of no confidence scheduled for ...
United Nations Security Council Election Voting Results
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Image via Wikipedia As promised here are the results from today’s elections at the UN General Assembly to fill 5 non-permanent seats at the UN Security Council. The quota in all elections was 127 based on the fact that 182 members were present...
Security Council Election Results
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Image by Getty Images via @daylife A follow on from this mornings post on the Elections to the five non-permament seats on the UN Security Council. The following countries have been elected: African Group: South Africa Asian Group: India Latin Americ...
Elections to the Security Council
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Image via Wikipedia Today 5 new members of the of United Nations Security Council will be elected. They will replace Uganda, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Austria. They will be elected for two years. The African seat is not being contested as South Afric...
Euroblogosphere: Who discovers Portugal?
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The current population of Portugal is 10.6 million, but this small country was at the vanguard of European overseas exploration (Wikipedia). About 260 million speakers of Portuguese are the legacy of these intrepid explorers and the colonial empire...
EU: Stability programme Portugal
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The abbreviation PIIGS has become shorthand for the troubled economies which represent five out of 16 members and a considerable proportion of the population of the eurozone: Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. Stability programmes for euroz...
Portugal legalises gay marriage
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I welcome the fact that Portugal's parliament has approved plans to legalise gay marriage, paving the way for the country to become the sixth in Europe to allow gays and lesbians to get married. As the Socialist Portuguese Prime Minister Jose S...
Parliamentary elections in Portugal and Germany
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National elections in EU member states concern the lives of citizens not only in the respective countries but in all countries of the Union.Through the policy-making power of the EU Council and the guiding weight of the European Council, governments...
Visit to Portugal
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On 27, 28 April I went to Portugal to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Deco, the Portuguese consumers’ association which has contributed so much to developing consumer policy in Portugal. The anniversary was commemorated with a seminar on fin...
Brazilian Devours its Mother Tongue
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By decree of a law passed last week, Portugal will no longer use Portuguese.Well, not the same kind of Portuguese anyway. In a highly controversial vote that’s been debated for many years, the Portuguese Parliament has effectively changing the lang...
