Portugal's general discussion (general events)

[Mike88]

Church abuse scandal: Another Bishop under fire for allegedly covering up and ignoring a case of abuse.

https://twitter.com/JornalNoticias/status/1580830050316091393

Bishop of Porto accused of not giving credit to sexual abuse 18 years ago

A woman says she got involved with a priest when she was 12 years old and, because she felt bad, approached the then professor Manuel Linda. "He said it was my fault."

Ana (not her real name), a former student of the current bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, accuses him of not paying attention to her when, about 18 years ago, in Vila Real, he heard her confess to him a relationship with Father Heitor Antunes, then parish priest of Nogueira, and of whom he allegedly suffered sexual abuse at the age of 12.

Manuel Linda was a professor of Moral and Religious Education at the Camilo Castelo Branco Secondary School, in Vila Real. Ana can't tell, she says that she was 13 or 14 years old when she approached the teacher, leaving a class, and followed him a few hundred meters to the door of the Seminary. "There, I told him that, even though I was a minor, I was involved with Father Heitor. He said it was my fault. That I was the one who was after him."
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Manuel Linda, who said he did not remember this case (see reaction below), was heavily criticized after, earlier this month, saying that sexual abuse of minors "is not a public crime" and therefore "does not reporting is mandatory. The claim was even denied by other figures in the Church.

Bishop Linda is also being criticized for his statements that "attachment to animals is typical of decaying societies".

[Mike88]

Nigeria warns Portugal that gas supplies will suffer a substantial drop:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1582119542368501762

Galp’s largest natural gas supplier warns of “substantial reduction”. Notice was received by Galp Energia, which has already sent a statement to the CMVM.

Galp Energia said it had received a “force majeure notice” from its main natural gas supplier – Nigeria LNG, warning of a “substantial reduction” in the production and supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

At stake are the floods that are affecting Nigeria and, consequently, causing a reduction in the production and export of liquefied natural gas.

Nigeria is Portugal's largest natural gas supplier, but, in a statement to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM), Galp says there is still no information to assess “the potential impacts of this event”.

Galp admits, however, that they may “result in additional supply disruptions for Galp”.
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Nigeria supplies more than 50% of all gas in Portugal: (data from the 1st half of 2022)

52.05% Nigeria
34.42% USA
  7.34% Russia
  4.00% Trinidad and Tobago
  2.18% Spain

[Mike88]

Poverty in Portugal grows and hits the worst levels since the Troika years:

https://twitter.com/24sapo/status/1581915309622951936

Portuguese are poorer. 4.4 million people have incomes below the poverty line. Only with social support do these Portuguese people cross the threshold, but even so, there are about two million who are below that line with financial aid.

Some stats of the picture of poverty in Portugal, as of 2021:

- 4,4 million people (43% of the population) live with wages bellow 554 euros per month;
- With social supports, the number above drops to 1,9 million living under the poverty line (18.4%);
- 55% of families earn less that 1,000 euros per month;
- 16.4% of the population cannot warm their houses properly (the 5th worst in the EU);
- 25.2% of the population live in houses in bad conditions (the 2nd worst in the EU, only behind Cyprus);
- 1,6 million pensioners live with pensions bellow 665 euros per month;

However, there are some not so bad numbers: just 6% of poor people in Portugal cannot arrange a decent meal of meat, fish and vegetables every two days.

[Mike88]

Lack of paper in Courts across the country is delaying trials:

https://twitter.com/dntwit/status/1583015812059004928

Ministry of Justice admits difficulties in managing paper stocks

The Ministry of Justice admits difficulties in managing paper stocks in the courts, points out the shortage of raw material, but says that no indication was ever given to the districts to stop printing procedural documents.

In a note sent to newsrooms after it was reported that the lack of paper delayed 20 civil cases in the Braga Court, the Ministry of Justice recalls that price fluctuation has "potentiated the difficulty in determining the base price of the procedures to be launched". and it is also resulting in the conclusion of short-term contracts (no more than two months), as "competitors are not interested in longer-lasting contracts, which would bind them to unit prices that would quickly become unadjusted".
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"Since the beginning of the year, there has been a disruption of the paper market due to the scarcity of raw material, a situation with a strong direct impact on the quantity and price of the product. was 2.38 euros, in 2022 the average is already 4.85 euros", he explains.

The note adds that, at the beginning of the year, the Purchasing Unit of the Ministry of Justice launched two procedures that, due to price increases, were left empty.
(...)

[Mike88]

Inflation crisis: Shoplifting soars and several supermarkets are already putting alarms in basic products.

https://twitter.com/expresso/status/1583171487250657281

Supermarkets are putting alarms on basic food items like cans of tuna or bottles of olive oil. Thefts are on the rise “since the beginning of September” by “people who can no longer survive on their salary and pension alone”. Almost 2 million Portuguese live on less than €554

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Frozen octopus or tuna cans are now, in some supermarkets, protected by alarms. The measure was taken due to the increase in food theft – a practice that was more common in items with a high value.

The Expresso report reveals that these robberies occur, in particular, in the urban centers of Lisbon and Porto and are perpetuated mainly by elderly people or parents who want to take food to their children.

For the Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies, the situation is explained by the increase in the cost of living.

Foodstuffs suffered the most from the rise in prices due to the war in Ukraine. In the last month, the inflation rate of these products reached 16.9%, the highest value since July 1990.

[Mike88]

Portugal with the largest budget surplus in the EU until June 2022:

https://twitter.com/ECO_PT/status/1583390758702239744

Portugal is the country in Europe with the largest budget surplus

Portugal is one of the few “good students” in the European Union. According to data released this Friday by Eurostat, Portugal closed its accounts for the second quarter of the year with a budget surplus equivalent to 3% of GDP. On the other hand, European Union countries showed an average deficit of 1.8% of GDP.

The budget surplus recorded in the second quarter by Portugal compares with a deficit of 4.5% recorded at the end of the second quarter of 2021 and with a deficit of 9.8% in the second quarter of 2020.

The result presented today by Portugal has been built by the government since the second quarter of 2020, when public accounts sank to a historic budget deficit of 9.8% of GDP. Since then, the budget balance deficit has been decreasing in size, reaching a positive balance of 1% of GDP in the first quarter and now 3% of GDP.

In the space of two years, Portugal went from being the eighth country in the euro area with the largest budget deficit to becoming the country in the single currency area with the largest budget surplus.
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[Mike88]

Some updates:

- Inflation has reached a new record in October, 10.2%, an increase of 0.9% compared with September.  Energy prices rose more than 5%, to a 27.6% rate.

- The transfer of 125 euros, to fight the rising cost of living, for millions of people is turning into a PR embarrassment with several delays and issues, like the fact the foreign millionaires living in Portugal are also receiving this support:

https://twitter.com/expresso/status/1585754618226769922

Void in the law allows millionaires, foreign or national, to benefit from the support created by the Government

There are holders of golden visas receiving the extraordinary support of €125, created by the Government to mitigate the effects of inflation on those who live in greater difficulties. They are foreigners with high capital income but little or no income from declared work, to whom the Social Security (SS) started paying support through checks this week. Tax experts heard by Expresso admit a gap in the design of the measure, which does not take into account capital income in the assessment of eligibility for support. A gap that gives scope for millionaires, foreign or national, to be covered by the measure.

There are at least more than two dozen cases detected, however it was impossible to know the total number of undue support. Expresso had access to a set of checks (in the amount of €125) related to anti-inflation support, issued by the SS last Monday, to foreign citizens covered by the Residence Permit for Investment Activity (ARI) regime, known as a golden visa.
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Also, several people are complaining that their bank account number "disappeared" from the Finance ministry website, and, so far, 320,000 transfers failed because the account numbers were wrong or other reason.

[Mike88]

Intercampus poll for CMTV/CM newspaper on the sexual abuse scandal in the Portuguese Catholic Church:

Q1: Should the Cardinal of Lisbon, D. Manuel Clemente, resign from his post?

67.2% Yes
15.2% No
17.6% Undecided

Q2: Should the Bishop of Porto, D. Manuel Linda, also resign from his post?

84.3% Yes
  7.4% No
  8.2% Undecided

Q3: The number of cases reported, so far, are lower of higher than what was expected?

46.6% Higher
41.7% Lower
11.7% Undecided

Q4: In your opinion, are there more cases than the ones that were reported?

92.8% Yes
  2.5% No
  4.8% Undecided

Poll conducted between 17 and 22 October 2022. Polled 607 voters. MoE of 4.00%.

[Mike88]

In the 3rd quarter, GDP grew 0.4% compared with the 2nd quarter of 2022:

https://twitter.com/cmjornal/status/1587021230007324676

Economy - GDP grows 0.4% in the 3rd quarter

Gross Domestic Product slowed growth to 4.9% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year and increased by 0.4% on a year-to-date basis, according to the rapid estimate released this Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

"Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in real terms, registered a year-on-year change of 4.9% in the third quarter of 2022 (7.4% in the previous quarter)", says the INE.

According to the statistical institute, "the contribution of domestic demand to the year-on-year change in GDP decreased in the third quarter, with a deceleration of private consumption and investment".

[Mike88]

Bus in Lisbon hit by gunshots leaves 2 passengers injured:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1587249613848707072

Two people were injured and were transported to hospital.

Two people were injured on Monday night after a Carris bus was shot at, next to the Ajuda Volunteer Firefighters, in Lisbon.

The two passengers were hit by shards of glass and taken to S. Francisco Xavier Hospital. There were also ten people who were assisted on the spot, having received psychological support.

Help firefighters, the PSP and three ambulances were at the scene. The authorities are investigating the case, and expertise on the bus is planned.

[Mike88]

Homeless population grows 25% in Lisbon and Porto cities:

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1587025335853252608

Number of homeless people increases by about 25% in Lisbon and Porto

The homeless population has increased by around 25 percent in recent months in Lisbon and Porto. The latest data now point to nine thousand homeless people.

There are almost 800 more people in these conditions, compared to the year 2020, and the trend is to continue to increase.

In the capital, the Arroios Neighbors Association is following with concern this growth and the conditions in which dozens of people who sleep on the street in this area in the center of the city.

Fears of eviction also increase, especially among the elderly. It is an alert to the competent authorities so that new answers can be found to face the problem.

Related to this is also the surge of East Timor immigrants who are coming to Portugal, in big numbers, searching for better job opportunities, but are cheated by mafias who ask money from them and promiss jobs and housing, but, in the end, these immigrants are left abandoned and there is no job, house, anything. In the last 3 months, almost 3,000 people came from Timor to Portugal and many are now wandering around Lisbon and sleeping on the streets. A man was already arrested for leading one of these "mafias" who abandon immigrants in Portugal.

[Mike88]

It seems that I'm no longer a Portuguese Citizen...  I'm a Listenbourgean. 

https://twitter.com/euronews/status/1587799489854701572

This has become viral here in Portugal.

[Mike88]

Families across the country face eviction notices as landlords refuse to renew housing contracts due to the government's freeze on rents:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1588602633161527296

Limit on the rise in rent prices may generate more cases of eviction.

The 2% limit imposed by the Government on the rise in rent prices is generating an increase in evictions.

Expresso newspaper reports this Friday that there are many landlords who are preferring not to renew their contracts, in order to be able to demand an increase above that limit. This is because the Government measure only covers contracts signed until 2021.

Contracts made in 2022 are not covered and, therefore, rents increased by 10% in new contracts between July and September alone.

The Rés do Chão Association says that, in Lisbon, there will be 800 families at risk of eviction by the end of the year, as they are unable to pay the higher rents imposed with the renewal of contracts.

At the national level there will be thousands of families that could be hit.

[Mike88]

Lack of medicines in pharmacies in Portugal creates a race to Spanish pharmacies in the border:

https://twitter.com/JornalNoticias/status/1589530618425409538

Portuguese cross the border in search of drugs in rupture

Sales soar in pharmacies in the border. Purchase only with traditional paper recipes.

Rosa Cruz and Fernando Almeida, from Gaia, went for a walk to Tui, in Spain, and took an electronic prescription guide to ask a Spanish pharmacy if they could buy Inderal. The medicine for the heart (arrhythmias), hypertension and angina pectoris, which is on rupture Portugal (although the generic with Spanish label is already reaching Portuguese counters), can be purchased in Spanish pharmacies, but only upon presentation of paper recipe. Electronic revenue is not recognized (by the system) in Spain.

The couple returned to Gaia empty-handed, as did many Portuguese who are crossing the border in the hope of acquiring the drug. Even so, Spanish pharmacies sell the generic Propranolol Accord as never before and have even been forced to reinforce stocks because of strong Portuguese demand. Ozempic, a prescription diabetes drug that has become a fad for being effective in weight loss, is also in high demand, but is at risk of rupture.
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[Mike88]

Tornadoes, heavy rain and flash floods hit, once again, Lisbon city this morning:

https://twitter.com/MeteoTrasMontPT/status/1590019500094595072

[Mike88]

Weird story from Faro Hospital: The hospital's morgue exchanged two corpses and cremated one by mistake.

https://twitter.com/JornalNoticias/status/1589885193396973569

Frenchman mistakenly cremated after exchanging bodies at Faro Hospital

An exchange in the identification of two bodies in the morgue at Hospital de Faro led to a French citizen being cremated against the family's wishes. The other deceased was of British nationality. The Board of Directors of the Algarve University Hospital Center (CHUA) assumed that there had been "a serious failure" and tender their resignation.
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And it's not the first time: Expresso newspaper reports that in just the last 5 years, there are 4 reported cases of bodies wrongly returned to families.

[Zinneke]

Hi Mike, just popping in to say thanks for the updates.

I saw people from Braga call people from Guimeraes "Spaniards" - is there a political-sociological story behind that or is it just banter between rival cities?

 Obrigado.

[Mike88]

Hi Mike, just popping in to say thanks for the updates.

I saw people from Braga call people from Guimeraes "Spaniards" - is there a political-sociological story behind that or is it just banter between rival cities?

 Obrigado.

Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, Braga and Guimarães have a long history of hating each other. Currently, it's mostly about football: SCBraga and Vitória Guimarães are fierce rivals and their matches have almost the same intensity and tension of a Benfica-FCPorto match. Some matches even end in violence with the police being forced to intervene. But, the name calling is something well before football was invented and it has to do with the formation of Portugal in the XII century: When the father of Afonso Henriques, D. Henrique, was given the administration of the County of Portugal, he settled in Guimarães and started giving benefits, like lands, more control, etc, to the people of Guimarães which infuriated the powerful Archbishop of Braga. The Archbishop even complained to the Pope about Guimarães benefits and the Vatican actually sent a Concordat trashing the people of Guimarães. The people of Guimarães were so furious that they burned and destroyed agricultural plantations in Braga, and because of this, they were excommunicated.

The actual name calling of "Spaniards" to Guimarães and "Moroccans" to Braga seems to be related to this, however, others say it's basically related to football and to a particular match in the 1970's in which Guimarães was so furious about losing that they burned down the referee's car and put up signs saying "To be treated like this, we'd better go play to Spain". Braga fans then mocked Guimarães fans and started calling them "Spaniards", and in retaliation, Guimarães fans started calling them "Moroccans", maybe because of the XII century story, who knows.

I was unaware about the name calling, the rivalry, of course, it's a fact of life . Had to look it up, but it's quite interesting. More in here: The rivalry between Vitória and Braga: it's D. Henrique's fault

[Zinneke]

Fascinating thanks. On the subject of cities like Braga and Guimarães, and urban development in Portugal, do you think (with respect to these places) the future is bright for these second tier cities as people get priced out of Porto and Lisbon or do you think the country will trend more towards the centralization around Porto and Lisbon?

[Mike88]

Fascinating thanks. On the subject of cities like Braga and Guimarães, and urban development in Portugal, do you think (with respect to these places) the future is bright for these second tier cities as people get priced out of Porto and Lisbon or do you think the country will trend more towards the centralization around Porto and Lisbon?

Well, Braga and Guimarães are heading in different paths in terms of population. If Guimarães city, according to the 2021 census, seems to have stagnated or increased very slightly, Braga, on the other hand, is seeing a big increase in population, mainly from Brazilian immigrants. Housing prices in places like Braga and Guimarães are lower than in Porto and Lisbon, even though housing prices here in Portugal are just through the roof and looking at the data, people seem to be moving more and more away from the near suburbs of Porto and Lisbon and going to the outer suburbs. Good highways benefit this move, plus lower housing prices, and places near Lisbon, like Mafra and Benavente, and in Porto, like Póvoa de Varzim (my hometown), Vila do Conde and Esposende, are seeing a big surge in population. Braga is near Porto enough, even though it's not in Porto's area of influence. So, I would say that Portugal's population is still very concentrated around Porto and Lisbon, but that the outer suburbs, some 30-40 kms from Porto and Lisbon, are gaining population and more inner suburbs are stagnating, especially in Porto.

[Mike88]

Movement "End the Fossil: Occupy!" blocks a high school in Lisbon to demand the end of fossil fuels. The director of the school calls the occupation as an act of " terrorism":

https://twitter.com/cnnportugal/status/1590655800313249799

Students are occupying six teaching establishments in Lisbon since Monday. They demand an end to fossil fuels and the resignation of the Minister of the Sea and Economy

On the fourth day of protests by the "End the Fossil: Occupy!" movement, a group of about 50 students is barricaded inside the António Arroio School, in Lisbon. The school has been closed since early in the morning and so far there are no classes. At the same time, outside the school, a significant group of students protests against fuel and demands climate justice.
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Since Monday, students from six educational establishments in Lisbon have been in protest, occupying the António Arroio and Camões secondary schools, the faculties of Arts and Sciences of the University of Lisbon, the Instituto Superior Técnico and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the New University of Lisbon. Young people have two demands: "End fossil fuels by 2030 and end fossil fuels in government, namely from the former oil baron, António Costa e Silva".
(...)

The director of this school is trashing the occupation saying it goes beyond "civil disobedience" and calls it an act of terrorism. He adds that student will not have justified absences.

[Mike88]

In another protest, Police was called to remove, by force, climate activists that were barricaded in the Faculty of Letters in Lisbon. Four protesters were arrested.

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1591230832047366144

Students were barricaded and glued to the ground at the Faculty premises.

Four students were arrested this Friday after they refused to leave the premises of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, where they had been barricaded in protest for the climate since Monday.

Three of the four detainees were forcibly taken away by the authorities, despite warnings that they would rally outside the police station in the event of arrests.

This Friday, about 20 activist students remained glued to the ground, even after the college administration gave an eviction order. However, throughout the day, several were demobilized, leaving only the four detained tonight.

The Faculty of Letters is one of five educational institutions where students have been barricaded since the beginning of the week.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Thanks for these updates. Obrigado!

[Mike88]

Thanks for these updates. Obrigado!

Thanks for the feedback.

Weird story from Faro Hospital: The hospital's morgue exchanged two corpses and cremated one by mistake.

And there are more weird stories from Faro Hospital: One man was found dead in the bathroom of the emergency room and another man died in an ambulance after being released from the hospital.

In the same week that he cremated a wrong body, the Faro hospital was the scene of another suspicious death:

A 63-year-old man died in the bathroom of the hospital itself after being missing for more than 20 minutes and after having waited for about 4 hours, wearing a yellow wristband, for the first tests to be carried out.

Family members accuse the hospital of negligence.

A 36-year-old man died two hours after being released from Faro hospital.

Halfway there, still in the ambulance, the hospital sent the patient back. The man died shortly after arriving at the hospital of a heart attack.

Faro Hospital is becoming a national embarrassment...

[Mike88]

This is just... whatever.

Modernization of the Beira-Alta railroad line will take longer than its actual construction back in the 19th century:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1592237689772048385

Modernization of the Beira Alta Line takes longer than its construction in the 19th century.

Two months ago, IP kept January 2023 for the reopening of the Beira Alta Line, but in six weeks the company stopped committing to any date.

Beira Alta line was closed in April.

It was by force of shovel and pick, and a lot of dynamite, that between October 1878 and August 1882 the 252 kilometers of the Beira Alta Line were built. In the 21st century, the modernization of 201 kilometers of this line (the initial section between Figueira da Foz and Pampilhosa was closed) began in 2019 and should only be completed in 2024.
(...)

The difference between political speeches and reality regarding public transportation in Portugal is just ridiculous.