Between 2009 and 2013, the poorest in society lost one in four of the euros they earned. They were the ones who suffered the most brutal cuts, with poverty and social exclusion figures falling low enough to match those at the beginning of the century. 

I don’t know if you remember, but in 2014 Passos Coelho, Portugal's Prime Minister at the time, said that "the economic crisis did not worsen inequality, it even had a tendency to make it a bit better," during a visit to the charity “Santa Casa da Misericórdia”, eventually concluding that during the Troika years it had not been the poor who got screwed over.

Brexit is the topic of the moment. How does it affect property in the EU? What happens if you are living in your own home in Portugal or Italy and Britain leaves the EU?

The strange thing about this Europe thing is that no-one wants to tell the truth. There are several reasons for this. The two main ones are very simple.

Rating relief - a potentially disastrous setback for Portugal’s economic recovery was averted with last Friday’s announcement that Canada’s DBRS agency has upheld Portugal’s only investment-grade credit rating. A much-feared downgrade to junk status in line with that of the other main agencies - Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s - would have seen Portugal cast out the European Central bond-buying program and raised borrowing costs for the government, banks and companies.

DBRS said its latest positive rating review “reflects Portugal’s eurozone membership and favourable public debt maturity structure, and reduced vulnerabilities.”

With the forthcoming EU Referendum in the UK looming on the horizon, we have met many British expats in recent months that are confused by the various consequences of a "no" vote. If the UK were to leave the EU, what implications will this have on the British living in Portugal? In an impartial way, we have highlighted the main areas of concern in our newsletter.

The four main areas of particular concern are with regards to your residency rights in Portugal, taxation, currency, and your investments. All four areas are addressed by ourselves, by way of opinion.

Citizens from over 70 nations will be able to vote in the UK referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. But most European Union nationalities will be excluded.

A spokesman for the British Prime Minster said:

“This is a big decision for our country, one that is about the future of the United Kingdom. That’s why we think it’s important that it is British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens that are the ones who get to decide.”

The UK Government, via the British Embassy and Consulate in Portugal, has recently published guidelines urging British expatriates to register as an ‘Oversees Voter’. Whilst this guidance was not connected to any particular event, it is of course now timely advice in light of the referendum scheduled for June on the UK’s EU membership.

UK nationals who have been registered to vote in the UK within the last 15 years can register as an overseas elector, to be able to vote in UK Parliamentary General Elections, UK-wide referenda, and European Parliamentary elections.

Work on the Algarve's EN125 has crept on for years causing huge delays, especially in rush hour.

This does not occur in other countries where interruptions are at other times and scheduled roadworks have deadlines that are monitored.

The British Ambassador to Portugal, Kirsty Hayes, was interviewed on the Algarve’s KissFM as part of her mission to encourage expat Britons to register in the UK to be able to vote.

Registration is especially important with the United Kingdom referendum coming up as the electorate is being asked to decide whether the UK stays in the European Union or not.