Social rents, tolls and transport costs have risen today, January 1st, 2019, but there will be a 3.5% drop in electricity costs in the regulated market this year, with a smaller decrease for those with accounts in the liberalised market.
Non-alcoholic drnks thata re loaded with sugar will be penalised firther in 2019, with the State Budget applying tax according to the drink's sugar content.
Rail transport services have been liberalised in Portugal, after an EU-driven law was introduced, active as from Tuesday, January 1st, 2019.
A number of legislative changes have been announced by the Government which aims to stimulate competition on the national rail network.
Road accidents claimed the lives of eight people over the New Year break, according to GNR figures from 28th December onwards.
In addition to traffic accidents, in figures to 08:00 this morning, the GNR inspected 28,460 drivers and found 458 of them were over the alcohol limit - 167 were so drunk that they were arrested.
Brexit is a chaos that does not help anyone," says Portugal’s Finance Minister, adding that a second referendum is essential and that the UK must stay part of the European Union, for everyone's benefit.
Mário Centeno, who also heads the Eurogroup of member states’ finance ministers, hopes the UK stays, an outcome, “which will benefit the EU and the UK.”
The latest step has been taken in an attempt to build a bridge to Faro island, a long running saga that has kept locals and newsrooms entertained for years.
The new tender is for €3.5 million, €1.12 million higher than the last tender in October that not a single contractor was lured by, as it was based on out-of-date figures.
In a year full of environmental news and incidents, ZERO has identified some of the key moments that demonstrate the many weaknesses that persist in environment protection.
On January 24, there was serious pollution in the Tejo river causing a thick blanket of foam to form on the river in the Abrantes area, (pictured). This capped more than two years of recurrent pollution in the upper and middle sections of the Tejo. Following the foam episode, more assertive measures were taken by the government to ensure the improvement of water quality. Test results over the next year will show whether this is working.
Ourique’s mayor was a model of politeness, enthuiasm and optimism as he signed a deal with energy supplier EDP for its engineers to connect rural customers in the Baixo Alentejo to the electricity supply.
This modern wonder has been denied in many areas of the municipality as it has not been economic to run power cables to farms and cottages whose inhabitants had been judged as potentially low users.
The GNR, stepped up patrols on the busiest routes to 'help drivers along their way' and caution or fine those who, despite adequate warning and inadequate penalties, fail to ensure their own safety and that of other road users.
GNR patrols made 218 arrests and registered 6,912 vehicle related infractions between the 21st and 27th of December, with 304 drivers done for drinking and driving, 144 of which officially were deemed to be so drunk that they had committed a criminal offence.
