Tungsten mine
The sense of local outrage against a plan to resume mining (for tungsten) in Borralha, Montalegre, has seen almost 700 ‘responses’ in the public participation exercise on the environmental impact assessment that has now closed. Adding weight to the opposition is a ‘negative opinion’ from the local council which commissioned independent technical advice from the science faculty of Lisbon’s Nova university which confirmed “various fragilities relevant within the project”.
Climate peanuts
In Brazil for the 30th COP (climate change conference) Portugal’s environment minister Maria de Graça Carvalho described government spending this year of €6.5 million on various ‘multilateral climate initiatives’. If she was expecting praise, she certainly did not get it from environmental NGO ZERO whose president has described the outlay as ‘peanuts’: developing countries need over a trillion euros by 2035, thus Portugal’s input will barely be noticed.
A&E pressure
Portugal’s state health service recorded almost 16 million visits to A&E departments between 2022 and June 2024 – a figure that is more than double the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average. The study that relayed data without suggestions, also said that in that time period there were 56,013 complaints “focusing mainly on waiting times, patient care and safety, and the humanisation of the services provided”.
TAP searches
PJ police conducted searches at flagship airline TAP and the headquarters of Barraqueiro transports on Tuesday, allegedly investigating the 2015 privatisation process, led by the outgoing PSD government. The investigation originates from a complaint presented in 2023 by former PS ministers, Pedro Nuno Santos and Fernando Medina. The timing could hardly be worse: the current centre-right government is trying to reprivatise the airline, which is already compromised by debt.
Growth/ deficit
Brussels has predicted that the Portuguese economy will grow by 1.9% this year (higher than the government’s estimate), and 2.2% next (agreeing with the government). Regarding a return to ‘deficit’ – which this government hotly refutes – the European Commission echoes warnings of former central bank governor Mário Centeno, suggesting a deficit next year of 0.3%. The government continues to insist it will have a surplus of 0.1%
Bairro Alto
Residents of Lisbon’s Bairro Alto have had enough of their neighbourhood being turned into what they see as a ‘Disneyland for Alcohol’. Somos Bairro Alto is the name of an association formed to try and recover the peace and safety of pre-tourist-stampede times. The focus is on finally getting authorities that have failed to act to bring in new rules to stop practices that have destroyed locals’ quality of life.
