Portugal going back to the polls // Costa skips climate conference, favourite to remain PM
Portuguese news in English on Saturday, November 6, 2021
By the numbers
Case numbers have jumped about 100 (on average) in a week and the number of people in hospital is also increasing. There are about 30 more COVID-19 patients in hospital than a week ago but the number in ICU and the number dying per day is essentially static. Of course, both those numbers usually take a bit of time to catch up and the number of people dying has risen slightly over the last couple of days.
Portugal going back to the polls
The Portuguese parliament will be dissolved and snap elections called for January 30 to resolve the ensuing political crisis, Público reports. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa justified his decision, approved by the Council of State on Thursday, by saying the government’s support base had been divided. Marcelo said the rejection of the 2022 budget left the governing Socialist Party (PS) without support at a particularly important time for the country, which has billions of EU funding to administer as it tries to escape the economic crisis provoked by the pandemic. He said January 30 was chosen as the “quickest possible” option that wouldn’t require an election campaign running over Christmas. You can read more from Reuters, Politico and Euronews in English.
Costa skips climate conference, favourite to remain PM
There are, unsurprisingly, a bunch of follow-on issues when you dissolve the Assembly of the Republic in the middle of the government’s term. One of these, according to PS, is Prime Minister António Costa’s absence from the critical COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Lusa reports. When politicians from the Left Bloc slammed him for not making the trip, saying the political crisis was “one of the factors” stopping the PM from going. Polls show 59% of Portuguese are in favour of the decision, even though 54% of them think it will be bad for the country, Público reports. You would think this would all be great for opposition parties but the leaders of both the People’s Party (CDS) and Social Democratic Party (PSD) are both trying to push back internal party elections until after the main poll, Diário de Notícias reports. And in the end, polling shows more people think Costa (43%) will stay in power than PSD’s Rui Rio (29%) or any other candidate. But a little more than two-thirds of respondents think an absolute majority isn’t possible, potentially bringing us back to where we were before the vote.
Pandemic worsening in Europe, including Portugal
Portugal has broken through the barrier of 1300 daily cases more quickly than predicted by the Health Minister, Diário de Notícias reports. There are currently 231 active outbreaks hitting creches, schools, universities, nursing homes and health units, way less than this time last year (921). Covid-19 crisis cabinet coordinator Filipe Froes said even the much lower number was a concern, saying it was important to keep analysing all the individual situations to see where authorities needed to intervene. He said the presence of outbreaks in nursing homes and other situations with vulnerable people was particularly important, and relevant to the fact many of them would have been vaccinated more than six months ago. Público notes, cases aren’t increasing as quickly here as in much of the rest of Europe and quotes an expert describing the situation as “comparatively favourable” thanks to high vaccination rates and some continued mask-wearing inside.
Anyone older than 80 can now get a third shot — or booster shot — of the Covid-19 vaccine simply by heading to their nearest vaccination centre, Público reports. The online form to book a third dose and a flu shot has now opened to those aged 75+ and will be open to everyone in their 70s next week. About 25,000 people are being vaccinated a day, health authorities say.
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In brief
Parliament approves euthanasia again, will go to President for approval in coming weeks. Marcelo asked for more detail in the previous law and the Constitutional Court agreed. (Público)
Wife of ex-banker fraudster who fled country kept in home detention. João Rendeiro fled the country before being sentenced to jail for fraud. (Público)
New working from home rules to come into force. Employers have to pay workers’ increased costs, including for power and internet if they can prove an increase, while also avoiding contacting their employees in their downtime. (Público)
More than 4400 cancer diagnoses believed to have been missed during the pandemic. Almost 14 million medical appointments didn’t go ahead. (Público)
On a lighter note
Tonnes of rubbish produced in Cascais may soon be used to power the town’s hydrogen-fuelled buses, killing two massive climate-problem birds with one stone, Público reports. In what proponents describe as a possible “game changer”, instead of going to landfill, the rubbish would be broken down into small pieces and transformed into, low-cost fossil-fuel free hydrogen using a special reactor. The pilot program is small for now — 250kg of rubbish to make 24kg of hydrogen to power two buses — but the Madeiran company hopes it will work successfully enough to be able to scale up. Floating Particles says any polluting gases produced are captured and reused but it’s unclear if the process uses renewable energy or relies on fossil fuels to some extent.
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This is so helpful. Your clear and concise writing is wonderful.
Thank you for continuing to publish these summaries, sincerely appreciated.