Algarve drought so bad farmers fear the end // One man’s complaints spark national police protests
Portuguese news in English on Tuesday, January 16, 2024.
Algarve drought so bad farmers fear the end
The Algarve is facing its worst ever drought, with dams at just 25%, prompting a likely tightening of water restrictions and warnings from some sectors, Diário de Notícias reports. Farmers and golf course owners say they’re already parched and can’t take any more reductions. The Confederation of Portuguese Farmers say the sector, which consumes about 60% of the region’s water, is heading for extermination in the region famous for oranges, berries and avocados due to “a lack of political will”. Secretary-General Luís Mira said the government had to stop responding to the problems simply by reducing water usage and instead look at ways to provide more, particularly a national water grid.
Golf is infamous for its land and water usage — 6% of the region’s consumption — but contributes to the region’s tourist draw, leading to warnings of flow-on effects if the taps are shut off. Portugal was last year crowned best golf destination in the world and half of the country’s courses are in the south.
The government is set to introduce a 70% cut to agricultural water usage and 15% for domestic users, Público reports, sparking warnings that orchards wouldn’t be able to survive, let alone produce fruit, with such a reduction. The weather is good news for the tourism industry, as long as water runs through the taps, but a growing tourist sector and shrinking agriculture only makes the region’s economy more monocultural.
One man’s complaints spark national police protests
A one-man vigil has spread throughout various police forces into a spontaneous national protest, with patrol cars off the road and officers marking vigils and even sleeping in front of police stations, Público reports. Public Security Police (PSP) agent Pedro Costa thought they’d call him crazy when he took to the streets outside parliament but quickly found support among his colleagues and National Guard (GNR) and prison officers.
Santos, who didn’t speak to the media during days camped outside the Assembly of the Republic and who friends said wasn’t the type to do something like this, aired his complaints in a Whatsapp message sent around to other officers. He said he decided to take a risk rather than work the rest of his life for an unfair wage, saying he’d watched politicians humiliate and laugh at his profession. If officers didn’t join together, he said, the top few would get a slice of the cake, the rest would get the crumbs and the politicians would eat everything else. “We don’t want handouts,” he said.
The home affairs minister met with union leaders, who Santos also criticised for not doing enough, on Friday, and party leader Pedro Nuno Santos said he intended to follow suit. On Wednesday night alone, dozens of PSP patrol cars were off the road, Público reports. Images on social media showed dozens or at times hundreds protesting in Santarém, Lisbon, Aveiro, Faro and Leiria, among others. The PSP and GNR officers are demanding the same treatment as the Criminal Police (PJ), who in November received an increase to a supplementary payment that in some cases would mean an extra €664 a month.
Pensions vs wages and tax cuts vs economic transformation as election nears
A few months out from the election, the different proposals by Portugal’s two main political parties are becoming somewhat clearer, Público reports. Centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Luís Montenegro is looking to the centre to lure voters away from the caretaker government Socialist Party (PS) of Pedro Nuno Santos, whose weekend announcements were further left. PSD wants to incentivise a more entrepreneurial society and cut taxes until the eighth bracket, while PS is pushing for a “structural transformation” and a government putting “more money in fewer sectors”.
Nuno Santos wants to raise the minimum wage to at least €1000 by 2028 while Montenegro is focusing on retirees with a pension boost to €820. Both are promising to address teachers’ complaints, but in different ways, while PSD’s solution to the National Health System (SNS) crisis involves leaning more on the private sector and PS has more vaguely promised to “care for” the SNS. Montenegro announced an undetailed goal to “regulate and dignify” immigration while Nuno Santos looked towards the housing crisis with a plan to “better regulate the market” through a new rental indexation partially linked to salaries.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Monday officially decreed the dissolution of parliament and called elections for March 10, Lusa reports.
In brief
Homeless foreigners left looking for a roof as temperatures fall. Multiple people spoke about leaving jobs where they were never paid. A major centre can house up to 150 people to sleep and eat for a night but they can’t live there. (Público)
Lisbon plaques remember Portugal's 'silenced' role in slavery. Twenty plaques were installed at significant sites, including Terreiro do Paço. "More than erased, history was silenced," said Jose Lino Neves from the association behind the project.
Director-general of health says excess mortality to remain in those over 45. She said the H1 influenza subtype could provoke a larger number of infections in younger people, including severe disease, and called for those eligible to get vaccinated. (Público)
Portugal has the most emigration in Europe and eighth highest in the world. A new book estimates 2.1 million Portuguese live overseas and 1.5 million (15% of the population) left in the past 20 years, with about 20,000 returning each year. (Público)
Journalists call for unpaid wages and greater scrutiny of fund that owns Global Media. The complete strike paralysed outlets including Jornal de Notícias, Diário de Notícias,TSF and O Jogo, along with dozens of journalists from other companies in solidarity. (Público)
On a lighter note
It was a long time in the making — two years to be precise — but Afghan refugee Milad has finally played his first game of football in Portugal, Diário de Notícias reports. The 13-year-old has been training rigorously with Academia Desportiva CCMI for two years since fleeing to Leiria with his family but couldn’t play until his refugee status was confirmed. In the week before the game, the coach created the appropriate suspense among the playing group, teasing a new player they weren’t expecting. “It’s Milad,” he said, after training, sparking emotional celebrations from the player, his family and teammates. On Sunday he strode onto the pitch with the confidence of someone who hadn’t been on the sidelines for two years and scored one goal and set up another. He wants to be a professional footballer and his coach believes it’s a possibility.