“Roadworks on the EN125 creep on for years. They cause huge delays and traffic jams. This does not occur in other countries where interventions are planned and roadworks have defined and agreed deadlines.”

I wrote this in early February this year and the situation remains the same.

At many EN125 roadwork sites there are machines but no workers. At others work has been stopped. I asked some VIPs why, and finally I understood.

Former minister and well protected friend of Pedro Passos Coelho, Miguel Relvas again is avoiding appearing in front of a panel of MPs looking into the Efisa bank scandal.

Miguel Relvas says he is fully ready to help the inquiry in any way possible but only in writing, the ruse he used earlier to avoid struggling with the truth when questioned about his involvement with a bank that was handed €90 million by the government in which he served, only to be sold to a company Pivot SGPS in which he was involved, for the bargain price of €38 million.

The Minister of Planning and Infrastructure, Pedro Marques, is in need of a diary and some help with the seasons after he reiterated in Barcelos today that that "during the summer" the conditions will be right to lower toll charges on the formerly free SCUT motorways, including the Algarve’s Via do Infante.

"During the summer, we will have completed this decision," said Marques whose lack of purpose and timing compete equally. The inevitable result of his deliberate delay and with the summer season now well underway, nothing has happened nor is likely to while he continues to devise forms of words that mean little and lead to even less.

Portugal’s delighted Prime Minister announced that today’s figures for deficit reduction demonstrates that the country is getting the better of austerity.

António Costa reported that Portugal had "the best first quarter results since 2008.”

Austria’s Chancellor Christian Kern said the outcome of the British referendum said “this is a bad day for Great Britain, a bad day for Europe and also a bad day for our country.” He believed the economic impact “will be felt for some time” and called for reform in Europe.

Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said “not a stone is left standing, that is a political earthquake.” He called for the change to be swift.

Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa has a laudable ability to say the right thing at the right time and today was no exception as Europe and world markets were rocked by the British defection from the European Union.

Costa admitted that today “is a sad day for Europe”, but said the 1373 Treaty of Windsor signed between Portugal and the UK is very old and will “carry on.”

Britain has voted to leave the European Union, results from Thursday's landmark referendum showed, a stunning repudiation of the nation's elites that deals the biggest blow to the European project of greater unity since World War Two, writes Reuters this morning.

World financial markets plunged as results showed a 51.9/48.1 percent split for leaving. The vote instantly creates the biggest global financial shock since the 2008 economic crisis, this time with interest rates around the world already at or near zero, stripping policymakers of the means to fight it.

Portugal’s president has welcomed an audit of troubled Caixa Geral de Depósitos and called for "common sense" from policy makers to ensure Caixa can continue to be "Portuguese, public and strong."

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (pictured) said on Thursday that he appreciates the request for an audit of the bank which, due to suspect lending decisions in the past, needs €5 billion of public funds to carry on trading within European banking guidelines.