France turns out to be the most generous EU nation when it comes to welfare spending.

New data from Eurostat has revealed that in France 34.3% of the country’s GDP went to social protection in 2014.

ZERO, Portugal’s Association for a Sustainable Terrestrial System, looks back at 2016 and forward to the challenges for next year.

The events to remember

Portugal 100% renewable energy for 107 consecutive hours
Over 4.5 consecutive days (more precisely, between 6:45 am on Saturday, May 7 and 17:45 pm on Wednesday, May 11), electricity consumption in Portugal was provided by renewable sources only.

The European Union has given the nod to Switzerland’s compromise on its controversial referendum result demanding immigration control.

On Thursday the EU Commission said that the Swiss parliament’s proposal marked “progress” on the matter.  The new law, it said, “should make it possible to preserve the integrity of the contractual commitments that link the EU and Switzerland”.

Portugal’s airports operator, French-owned ANA, says the planned weekend strike by airport baggage handling and security staff is set to cause severe problems at one of the busiest times of the year.

ANA reported that the strike is due to start on Saturday and carry on through next week. The company has been asked by its client airlines to produce some sort of action plan to deal with the inevitable disruption but nothing yet has been published despite the airlines’ professed concern for their passengers.

The C17th Fortaleza de Santa Catarina that sits above Praia da Rocha in Portimão has come under attack by the Left Bloc which is appalled at the state of the historic building.

A draft resolution has been presented that recommends to the government that the building, which for centuries has commanded the entrance to Portimão, is repaired and put to some better use than currently.

The Algarve’s tourist board is to support the 5th ‘Algarve Bike Challenge’ due to take place from 3 to 5 March 2017.

The competition brings together amateurs and the elite of the biking world to face the challenge of the hills, mountains and the coast, beginning in Tavira and heading off into the hills.

A big step forward has been taken by Portugal’s parliament in animal rights legislation, led by pressure from the People Animals Nature party’s lone MP, André Silva.

In brief, animals in future legislation will not be treated as ‘things’ and will have their own distinct legal status, somewhere in the legal continuum between a thing and a person.

The figures being produced in the wake of Portugal’s surging tourism boom continue to delight government with €11 billion spent by visitors this year to the end of October.

The data released by the Bank of Portugal shows this October total is an increase of €1 billion compared to the same period last year.