Electricity rationing discussions and claim of ‘40% price increase’ // Catholic church sexual abuse scandal deepens
Portuguese news in English on Saturday, August 6, 2022.
By the numbers
Electricity rationing discussions and claim of ‘40% price increase’
Portugal will likely limit energy consumption in public buildings and launch an education campaign aimed at reducing business and personal usage to comply with European Union recommendations sparked by a feared Russian gas cut-off in winter, Público reports. The government is still analysing the matter as Portugal and Spain negotiate with Brussels for a 7% gas usage reduction, compared to 15% in countries further east with better gas connections. Limits on air conditioning such as those announced in Spain (The Guardian, in English) are on the table. At the same time, the president of major electricity provider Endesa has warned that a separate gas price ceiling mechanism would increase prices by 40%, Público reports. The government declared the comments “alarmist” and urged public services to consider other power supply options.
Catholic church sexual abuse scandal deepens
A Portuguese priest has given a list of 12 colleagues to the independent commission set up to investigate alleged abuse in the Catholic church, Expresso reports. The priest, who remained anonymous, has extensive dossiers on two priests, one still in the church in a foreign European capital and another now in an evangelical church. He has reportedly shared his suspicions in writing and in person with leaders of the Patriarchate of Lisbon and public prosecutors. The priest alleged the two men in question protected each other from allegations of abuse by minors, swearing a pact of silence and threatening anyone who intended to complain. The Lisbon patriarchate said in one of the cases, in which the priest was moved several times, the priest was heard and the case was eventually dropped. The other priest quit the church in 2019 after more than a dozen complaints from two different Portuguese parishes. One alleged victim said he and three friends were invited to a holiday house in the Algarve and one night he woke up to the priest groping and trying to kiss him.
In another example of the growing importance of the ongoing investigation, a woman allegedly raped by a priest told TVI he tried to buy her silence with about €300, Público reports. They had begun a love affair but one day he wanted her to be his “sex slave”, hit her and refused to stop when she yelled. She said she told the Patriarchate and the National Guard but the church asked her not to tell journalists.
Lisbon the seventh most exposed European city to heat waves
The recent high temperatures have sparked a (sorry) heated discussion about the preparedness of European cities to handle heat waves. When it comes to Lisbon, the news isn’t great. Público reports it is the seventh most vulnerable to heat waves of about 600 European cities analysed in a recent study. Only Milan, Madrid, Germany’s Ruhr valley, Paris, Rome and Frankfurt fair worse. That’s not all directly heat related because the researchers considered the city’s high proportion of older people in assessing the risk but still makes adapting to the growing perils of man-made climate change essential.
In Lisbon, Parque das Nações and Baixa are the worst urban heat islands, where the design and geography of the city makes the heat even more intense. At one point during the July heat wave, it was 36 degrees in Parque das Nacões and 31 in Belem. Physical geography expert Antonio Lopes says it’s essential to plant more trees and build in a way that doesn’t block the cooling breezes from the Tejo River, as has happened in much of Lisbon’s east.
In brief
Portugal's airport workers threaten to strike in late August. The strike over wages and working conditions is scheduled for August 19–21. (Reuters, in English)
Ukrainian refugees wait months for Portuguese homes promised by aid program. Neither the government nor the bodies responsible for the Porta de Entrada rent help program, said to be the government’s main response to the influx, could say if it had benefited a single refugee. In Lisbon, 36 applications are being processed. (Público)
Scammer leaves young foreign footballers stranded at Lisbon airport. They arrived with the promise of a home and a monthly salary of €400 but found out the club no longer existed and the man just wanted to scam them out of €1500 each, but only got €200 out of two of them. (Público)
Brazilian actress condemns racism against her sons at Costa da Caparica restaurant. Bruno Gagliasso and Giovanna Ewbank said a woman, who was later removed by police, called for her adopted son and daughter and an Angolan family to leave the restaurant and go back to Africa, along with other racist insults.
On a lighter note
I haven’t fact-checked this, but I’m pretty sure Portugal is the only place in the world where you’ll find multiple shops in prime tourist spots selling nothing but sardines. Those shops are a bit of a tourist trap but Portugal’s conservas (seafood canning) industry, dating back to the 1850s, is the real deal. As The New York Times (Shouldn’t have a paywall) points out in this piece about a visit to the Conservas Pinhais e Cia factory in Matosinhos, eating delicious stuff out of tins is also having a bit of a moment right now around the world. If you can’t visit the factory yourself, the article is a lovely read.