The GNR today has stepped up its traffic patrols and roadside inspections until Sunday evening in the first of five stages of the annual ‘Operation Hermes - travelling with security' that runs until the beginning of September.
According to the GNR, the objective is "to guarantee security during trips to and from summer resorts and the various events being held of this time of the year."
This means that most of the activity will be in the Algarve.
Portugal’s parliamentary political parties agreed today, June 29th, to set up an Independent Technical Commission to investigate the great fire of Pedrógão Grande in which over 60 people died.
The proposal to set up the inquiry will be voted in on Friday but was not endorsed by the Communists and the Greens. The establishment of the commission was accepted by a large majority of MPs and it will run for a maximum three months.
The Portuguese Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism (APHORT), based in Oporto, says that the ‘tourist tax’ is a bad idea and is really a tax on consumption, and proposes instead that "councils should have a share in VAT receipts.”
The tourist ‘per night’ tax started 18 months ago in Lisbon and is due to start in Oporto on 1 January, 2018 but the hoteliers say this is "a municipal fee on overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments," and hence unfair.
The Council of Ministers has approved the agreement that formalises the State’s position as the largest shareholder of TAP, with 50% of the capital.
The private Atlantic Gateway consortium, owned by Humberto Pedrosa and David Neeleman, owns 45% of TAP’s shares, the remained now owned or reserved for TAP employees.
The former head of a Banco Espírito Santo offshoot has been placed under house arrest after being interviewed by a criminal examining judge.
The Attorney General's Office confirmed the house arrest of João Alexandre Silva, former director of BES Madeira and former representative of Banco Espírito Santo in Venezuela.
A Chinese national, resident in Lisbon, has been stopped at the border on the Spanish side with €235,000 in cash hidden in his car’s chassis.
The man was intercepted by officers of Guadia Civil at Caia, on the border between Badajoz and Elvas on Wednesday.
With one day to go before the Algarve’s EN125 road works are scheduled to be completed, Rotas do Algarve Litoral has announced the suspension of all work from June 30th until the end of August “to ensure better traffic flow during the peak tourist season.”
In January 2017, the Minister for Infrastructure, Pedro Marquês, stated that the western EN125 project will start in April and will be completed by the end of June, stating on May 24th that the only the ‘essential parts’ of the refurbishment will be signed off while instructing motorists to “be patient.”
Elidérico Viegas, President of the Algarve’s hoteliers association has called for a reduction in the opening hours for bars in Albufeira’s ‘Strip’ to reduce the incidents of violence and rowdy behaviour.
Viegas says that he is worried about the general situation in Albufeira after last Sunday’s disturbances and fighting that triggered a swift police response to clear the area.
