Catholic church agrees to compensate victims // Iran seizes Portuguese-flagged cargo ship
Portuguese news in English on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Catholic church agrees to pay compensation to victims
Portugal’s Catholic Church has decided to pay compensation to sexual abuse victims, Público reports. Portugal’s Bishops' Conference (CEP) last week unanimously approved the move, which applies to children and adults and also includes the creation of a commission to determine the payments and a fund to pay them out. Any complaints should be made to the Vita group or a diocesan commission between June and December.
Vita, which will begin a tour of the dioceses this week, had received 24 requests for compensation by Sunday, Lusa reports. The independent commission into church sexual abuse heard from more than 500 witnesses about cases stretching from 1950 to 2022, before finding last year that at least 4815 victims had been abused. In 11 months, 89 people have reported sexual abuse in the church to Vita, which was created by the bishops’ conference.
Coração Silenciado (Silenced Heart) co-founder Antonio Grosso criticised the planned case-by-case approach to compensation, Reuters reports, in English. "I don't know what measuring tape they will use to evaluate people's suffering, people who will have to tell their stories again to see if they deserve more or less cents,” the sexual abuse survivors' group representative said.
Iran seizes Portuguese-flagged cargo ship
Iranian troops have seized a Portuguese-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the BBC reports, in English. The operator of the MSC Aries said Iranian special forces boarded about 80 kilometres off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on April 13. The ship is linked to Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer and the seizure came amid the build-up to Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel at the weekend.
The Portuguese government said it was following the situation, there were no Portuguese citizens aboard and asked Iran for clarification, Expresso reports. Ship owner Zodiac Maritime, based in London, said 25 crew were on the ship when it was boarded and redirected towards Iran.
On Tuesday, the foreign minister summoned Iran’s ambassador to Portugal, “vehemently and categorically” reiterated the country’s condemnation of the seizure and demanded the ship’s immediate liberation, Diário de Notícias reports.
Iran’s ambassador in Portugal told RTP the ship’s crew were not being “controlled nor interrogated”, Diário de Notícias reports. He claimed the ship was in Iranian territorial waters and called on Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel to “minimise the risk of more tension”. Reuters, which shared footage appearing to show Iran's Revolutionary Guards rappelling down from a helicopter on April 13, quoted Iran’s foreign ministry blaming the seizure on the vessel “violating maritime laws”.
New government to scrap ‘rent freezes’, other housing measures
The new government is determined to revoke several housing measures introduced by the former administration, including forced renting of empty houses and “rent freezes”, Público reports. In its governing program published last week, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) recognises there is a housing crisis but says these and some Alojamento Local (Airbnb etc) restrictions aren’t the right approach. The governing party is instead betting on financial incentives, simplified processes, public-private partnerships and new housing models to increase supply. The “rent freeze” shakeup is still unclear and could refer to multiple measures, including scrapping the newly introduced 2% limit on rent increases for new contracts (compared to the previous agreement), or changes to laws around decades-old contracts with very cheap rents.
The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), Left Bloc (BE) and Chega have all said they’ll oppose the government’s new platform, while the main opposition Socialist Party (PS) is yet to publicly announce its decision, Diário de Notícias reports.
Portugal needs to build 45,000 new homes a year to fix the housing crisis, according to a major civil construction and public works body, Diário de Notícias reports. That’s 13,000 more than were built in 2023.
In brief
€1.5 billion tax cut actually only worth €200 million. New Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has been criticised for including €1.3 billion in reductions already implemented by the previous government in his promised figure. (Público)
Designer facing death threats for his Portugal government logo. The designer of a now-scrapped logo labelled “unpatriotic” and “woke” by some on the right and criticised for being too simplistic says his critics are “totally ignorant of design”. (The Guardian, in English)
Portuguese business received €45 million from Hungary to buy Euronews. A fund 100% owned by the Hungarian state, with links to Prime Minister Vikto Orbán’s Fidesz party invested in another fund, which bought the major media company. (Expresso, Direkt36 and Le Monde, in English)
European Central Bank puts possible June interest rate cut on the cards. Central bank president Christine Lagarde said the bank was increasingly confident inflation was coming under control. (Público)
On a lighter note
Brand collaborations don’t get much more Portuguese than this. Ice cream maker Santini has teamed up with ceramics favourite Bordallo Pinheiro for a 75th birthday celebration perfect for anyone who struggles to choose between cone or cup, Time Out reports. All of the chain's gelatarias are selling four limited edition BP creations inspired by Santini’s star ingredient: fruit. The cups come in strawberry, lemon, grape and orange, as does the ice cream packed inside. They cost €18 or €64 for the whole set.