The Council of Ministers today approved the 2017 draft State Budget after a 10 hour session.
The agreed document will be delivered to the National Assembly on Friday where it will be presented by Minister of Finance, Mario Centeno.
This was not what the Bank of Portugal was looking for at all. The latecomer to the Novo Banco sale process, Minshege, has submitted details of its offer which involves buying just 50% of Novo Banco and selling off the remaining half on the stock market.
Despite the possibility of an enhanced overall result for the Resolution Fund and the taxpayer, the Resolution Fund is still keen on an outright sale of 100% of Novo Banco in order to recoup part of the billions it was obliged to advance in 2014.
Judges have concluded that is has not been proven that Peter Boone intended to influence the price of Portuguese bonds through his opinion articles on a blog associated with the New York Times.
Peter Boone was accused of market manipulation and pocketing a profit of €800,000 by trading in Portuguese debt. The investigating judge has now closed the case, considering that Boon had no intention of manipulating bond prices and making money.
Plans to launch Portugal’s very own ‘Route 66’, more correctly known as the EN2, has taken their first hesitant steps with the setting up of an association – an essential move in all parts of Portuguese life.
The route from Faro in the south to Chaves in the north of Portugal runs through 32 council areas and 31 mayors have agreed that an ‘Association of Municipalities of the National Highway 2 Route’ should be formed to coordinate things and have stated that this will be completed before the end of the first week of November.
Vila Real de Santo António’s council has managed to access money provided by the Municipal Aid Fund so as to cut expensive short-term debt, much of which was built up to stop the flow of sewage into the Guadiana.
The council talks of continuing its “policy of consolidation of municipal finances, injecting liquidity in treasury and fulfilling its commitments to responsible management,” but the €19.2 million borrowed will have to be paid back by generations of ratepayers over the next 20 years.
The German government intends to reduce the access enjoyed by EU citizens to the nation’s social welfare benefits.
A draft bill will see EU citizens able to draw benefits only after having lived in Germany for five years.
Britain’s prime minister was in Madrid on Thursday to discuss what Brexit might mean to the two countries.
Theresa May flew to the Spanish capital to meet with Spain’s acting premier for talks on how Brexit will impact relations between the UK and Spain.
The ruins of Balsa, once one of the largest Roman cities of the Iberian Peninsula, are threatened with destruction by the installation of greenhouses and irrigation systems.
The director of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, Valentina Calixto, has said a Spanish-owned fruit-growing business can go ahead with its plans, thus putting at risk an invaluable trove of Roman archaeological remains in the Tavira council area..
