TAP report clearing government of responsibility harshly criticised // Strikes to hit Lisbon for Pope visit
Portuguese news in English on Monday, July 10, 2023.
TAP report clearing government of responsibility harshly criticised
The preliminary report from the long-running TAP parliamentary inquiry clears the government of responsibility over a €500,000 payout and leaves out several issues examined in depth during public hearings, Público reports. The report, by Ana Paula Bernardo of the governing Socialist Party (PS), said the payout to former administrator Alexandra Reis, which sparked the parliamentary inquiry, was made solely under the initiative of ex-CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener. The report explicitly avoided the April 26 incident in Infrastructure Minister João Galamba’s ministry involving former now-fired adviser Frederico Pinheiro and the eventual recovery of his work computer by the spy services. Nor did it address the controversial January meeting between Ourmières-Widener and a PS MP to prepare her for a parliamentary grilling the following day. Both incidents were addressed at length over days’ worth of testimony.
Luís Montenegro, President of the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), said the report was a “democratic shame without any value”, Diário de Notícias reports. Ourmières-Widener’s lawyer called it “one more made-to-measure document” with “serious flaws and omissions” trying to give legal cover to a political firing, Público reports. You can read more about the TAP inquiry here or watch this summary video, which is now a bit old but still does the job.
Strikes to hit Lisbon for Pope visit
A series of strikes and protests involving police, rail workers, school workers, rubbish collectors and more is set to mark the Pope’s visit to Lisbon for World Youth Day, Público reports. The ongoing Comboios de Portugal (CP) ticket office and inspector strike has been extended until August 6 and special trains usually put on for such big events will also be affected (as was the case with NOS Alive). The Independent Union of Doctors is striking nationally over wages from July 25-27 along with an overtime strike running until August 22. One union representing school workers is striking from July 31 to August 4 over concerns roughly 2000 functionaries will be called on to work during the festivities.
Police aren’t allowed to strike but the National Police Union has promised a campout in Lisbon’s Terreiro do Paço. It serves the double purpose of protesting a €43-a-day payment the union considers insufficient to compensate officers forced to sleep in Lisbon to cover the event and give said officers somewhere to sleep and save on overnight costs. And finally the union covering Lisbon’s rubbish workers has warned of a strike from August 1 to 6. You can read more from Reuters in English.
Marcelo feeling ‘much better’ after fainting at event
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is out of hospital after fainting during a visit to the science and technology faculty of Nova University in Costa de Caparica, Público reports. The president was hospitalised after the incident on Wednesday but released later that day. Leaving the medical centre at the start of the night, he said it was caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure, possibly caused by drinking nutritional drink Fortimel and warm moscatel wine at lunch. He said he was feeling “much better” and joked that he passed on the “sad” news to Prime Minister António Costa that “it’s not from this that I die”.
In brief
Heatwaves killed 2200 in Portugal last year, study estimates. A study in Nature Medicine, in English, found excess heat caused more than 61,000 deaths across Europe in 2022, with Portugal in the group of most-affected countries behind only Italy, Greece and Spain. (Público)
Parliament one step closer to passing housing measures. The 2% rent increase limit for new contracts and tax breaks for longer-term rentals remain but the Alojamento Local tax has been lowered to 15%, non-real-estate-based Golden Visas remain, the mandatory rental of abandoned houses will be limited to “exceptional” cases. The final vote is next week. (Diário de Notícias)
Secretary of State for Defence resigns after police search house and ministry. Police said they were investigating suspicions of criminal acts in public office, including corruption. (Público)
Lisbon airport SEF facility yet to apply changes three years after Ukrainian man killed. A “substantial part” of the new rules announced — including panic buttons, extended CCTV coverage and acceptably private showers — after Ilhor Homeniuk was killed in March 2020 are yet to be implemented. (Público)
On a lighter note
It’s the David vs Goliath music festival fight that’s catapulted a free event in northern Portugal to national fame. It all began with a legal letter sent from Rock in Rio Lisbon’s lawyers to a group of young people organising Rock in Rio Febras — revealed in a tongue-in-cheek media announcement, Público reports. The 80,000-strong festival with roots in Brazil didn’t want music lovers confusing it with the little event in Briteiros set to be played by a handful of “bands and DJs from the council of Guimarães”. The little festival that could suddenly had support from all around the country and its slightly larger rival had to release a statement wishing “the best to our friends from the festival that takes place near the Febras River”. Rock in Rio Lisbon even offered to collaborate but the smaller festival’s organisers said they resisted the temptation to turn it into an “event for the masses (and brands)”. Rock in Rio Febras AKA “the festival whose name can not be said” AKA “Festival of Rock that takes place near Rio Febras” starts at 4pm on July 22 and continues “until the police arrive”.