Pierre Moscovici may well have been right, Portugal’s economic performance is accelerating hard, driven by the service sector and by private consumption of food and non-food items, which has recorded the biggest increase since May 2001, alongside a pleasing increase in exports.

During a flying visit on July 18th, Moscovici predicted that Portugal’s deficit will be 1.8% this year and that economic growth "will probably be above 2.5%."

Portuguese MPs have ignored the opinion of the European Central Bank and will press ahead this week with the law to limit cash payment to €3,000.

The bill was submitted to the European Central Bank for an opinion. The response criticized the initiative, suggesting that it should be scrapped.

Miguel Blesa, the former president of Spanish bank Caja Madrid, was found dead on Wednesday, July 19th, in a garage at a property near Cordoba.

The 69-year-old former chief financial officer was preparing for a day of hunting with a group of friends and was found shortly after eight this morning with a shotgun blast to his chest and a shotgun on the ground - "everything points to suicide," agrees the Spanish press.

With allegations of ‘monopolistic domination,’ the Secretary of State for Employment, Miguel Cabrita, has laid into the treatment of workers at the recently purchased telecoms company, PT.

The operator was bought two years ago by the French group Altice, owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi and as part of the consolidation plan, many workers have found themselves transferred to subsidiaries and suppliers.

Cristóvão Norte, the Social Democrat MP who accepted a freebie trip to euro2016 courtesy of his friend at Galp Energia, faces a seriously embarrassing time as the Public Prosecutor wants to see his immunity lifted so he can face questioning and possible later charges.  

The Galpgate case already has triggered the departure of three secretaries of state, Fernando Rocha Andrade (Taxation), Jorge Costa Oliveira (Internationalization) and João Vasconcelos (Industry).

The three former secretaries of state rulers will formally be questioned this week, accused of taking an expenses-paid trip to watch Portugal play Hungary in Lyon in 2016 - and for asking serial tax avoider, Galp Energia, for additional tickets for heavyweight political colleagues

The three men, all of whom resigned last weekend following the Galp freebie football tickets uproar, will be questioned at length on different days by the Lisbon Department of Investigation and Criminal Action.

The European Commissioner for Economic Affairs has now decided that Portugal is a huge economic success story and needs to be held up as an example to others.

Pierre Moscovici now predicts that Portugal’s deficit will be 1.8% this year and that economic growth "will probably be above 2.5%" as he completed a one day visit to Lisbon to meet politicians and say encouraging things to the press.

After years of dithering while passenger number grew, the Minister of Planning and Infrastructure now admits that a new airport for Lisbon has become an "emergency" for the country.

Pedro Marquês says that the military air base at Montijo is the best location to act as a overflow to take the pressure of Humberto Delgado airport in the capital.