The mayor of Vila Real de Santo António, who also is the Algarve Social Democratic Pary leader, has come out in support of the Socialist Party former Prime Minister, José Sócrates, (pictured) in a remarkable departure from party protocol.
Luís Gomes said that he was talking "in a personal capacity" and that the PSD party, led by Pedro Passos Coelho, has always respected the freedom of citizens to say what they want, (however off message it might be.)
Portugal had not had such a warm December since 1989. In fact December 2015 was the second warmest December in Portugal for 84 years with a maximum temperature reaching the highest value since 1931.
December’s average temperature was 11.8 degrees Centigrade, about 1.8 degrees above the average. In terms of rain, December had lower than normal rainfall and was the sixth driest since 1931.
Germany registered 1.1 million refugees in 2015, the majority of whom were from Syria.
The total was a five-fold increase over 2014.
The Socialist Party manifesto pledge, that Portugal’s workers again shall enjoy the full suite of public holidays, is to be carried out.
Portugal lost four holidays under the Pedro Passos Coelho coalition government which, citing ‘austerity,’ removed two religious and two secular days off to increase Portugal’s output.
The Left Bloc’s Catarina Martins successfully has called on former and current Tax Authority bosses to explain to parliament how Portugal’s richest families pay a modicum of tax while the rest of us stump up the full whack or risk losing our homes.
The fictional 'low taxes for rich bastards' scheme became fact late last year when former tax boss José Azevedo Pereira let slip during a TV interview that there indeed was a two tier system that enabled thousands of the richest families in the country proportionally to pay less tax than Portugal’s hard-working, but no so wealthy, contributors.
Novo Banco and Caixa Geral de Depósitos are to increase their annual fees for ATM cards, with Portugal’s remaining banks soon to following suit.
The price hike of around 20% has spurred consumer watchdog, Deco, to call for the imposition of a limit.
The UK has been found to be one of the top places in Europe for employment prospects.
The research, which ranks employment opportunities across the continent, also pointed to Estonia, Norway and Austria.
Helena Borges is taking the top job at the Tax and Customs Authority, Finanças to you and me, in a move that recognises her problem solving ability as much as her technical grasp of the multi-faceted department, its technology and internecine rivalries.
Certain problem areas need dealing with urgently including the damage done by the exposure of a VIP taxpayers’ list, the e-billing system that fails to take into account those sole traders without computer access or skills (35% of the population still has no access to the Internet), an internal power struggle that has affected the smooth running of the most important department of government, and collecting taxes from those who claim poverty, the list is a long one.
