The German government is to hold an emergency meeting to consider “all the pressing issues arising” from the influx of refugees in the country, according to a spokesman for Chancellor Merkel.
Local authorities have been complaining that they have insufficient funds to house the refugees and several states have asked for more federal funding to help.
Miguel Macedo, the Golden Visa minister who resigned last November as the net closed in on crooked civil servants, managed to distance himself from the recriminations, for a while.
Macedo claimed he was resigning for the noblest of reasons; that his ‘authority had been dimished’ but as this might have been a first in Portuguese politics, few believed that he was not somehow involved.
Prices for consumer goods rose in Portugal during the month of March.
This has put the rate of inflation at 0.4% for the month against a backdrop of -0.1% of average inflation across the euro region.
"The scheduled TAP strike is serious and threatens the company in the short term," is the Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s considered view of the mess created by the angered TAP pilots union being fobbed off by TAP's management and its political overseers.
The PM added that not only is the problem at TAP "serious" but also that there is no alternative but to privatise the ailing carrier.
Rodrigo Rato, who led the International Monetary Fund from 2004-2007, was arrested in Madrid on Thursday over charges of tax fraud and money-laundering over his personal wealth.
His was followed at the IMF by Dominique Strauss-Khan.
Five years after the start of project to widen the famous Dona Ana beach, Lagos, the work that finally started on Monday is to be challenged by a demonstration called by Almargem which demands that the Portuguese Environment Agency stands down its contractors.
The addition of 140,000m3 of sand, the extension of the beach by a maximum of 40 metres and work to make safe the friable cliffs has been called "the destruction of ancient and stunning sea landscape" by the eco-organisation.
Portugal's Minister of the Economy has expressed surprise at the latest strike notice by TAP pilots and said he had no explanation except that "the pilots intend to put the government under a threat to halt the state company’s privatisation."
The minister, António Pires de Lima, was taken aback by the strike announcement that will see pilots down tools for ten days starting on May 1st, calling it inexplicable, and asking the union to reconsider its decision.
Four of Portugal’s largest sardine fishing organisations are contesting the latest government edict to restrict this year’s catches on the grounds of securing future supplies
Artesanalpesca, Barlapescas, Olhãopesca and Sesibal have complained at a government resolution that limits sardine catches to the south of Peniche on the west coast.
