Related »
Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: LISBON, Portugal—Portugal's government could collapse Wednesday after opposition parties withdrew their support for another round of austerity policies aimed at averting a financial bailout.
The expected defeat of the minority government's latest spending plans in a parliamentary vote will likely force its resignation and could stall national and European efforts to deal with the continent's protracted debt crisis.
The vote comes on the eve of a two-day European Union summit where policy makers are hoping to take new steps to restore investor faith in the fiscal soundness of the 17-nation euro zone, including Portugal.
Last year, both Greece and Ireland had to accept massive rescue packages after markets lost faith in their governments' efforts to deal with their debt burdens.
The political tension fueled a rise in Portugal's borrowing rates, just as it is trying to cut spending. The yield on the country's 10-year bond, for example, was up to 7.57%Tuesday—just shy of its euro-era record level. The interest rate has been above 7% for several weeks despite the government's earlier austerity measures that, its political rivals say, failed to quell investor fears.
As in Greece, the austerity policies—including tax hikes and pay cuts—have prompted an outcry from trade unions and numerous demonstrations and strikes. Train engineers walked off the job during the morning commute Wednesday, causing widespread travel disruption.
By most measures, Portugal is one of the euro zone's smallest and feeblest economies but its financial collapse would likely trigger a fresh bout of nerves over other debt-heavy—and bigger—euro countries such as Spain, Belgium and Italy.
"Portugal seems very likely to become the third … eurozone country to need a bailout," Emilie Gay, European economist at Capital Economics, said. » | Associated Press | Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Brian Cowen defies calls for resignation / Fears that Portugal and Spain may need aid / International rescue plan does little to calm markets / Datablog: how will the bailout be funded and how exposed is each economy?
Financial markets were thrown into turmoil today amid fears that an imminent collapse of Ireland's beleaguered government would have a knock-on effect across the eurozone.
The announcement of the potential €90bn international bailout for debt-laden Ireland – of which the UK could contribute up to £10bn – offered only a temporary respite to nervous markets.
By tonight, concerns that Portugal and even Spain might also need their own rescue packages were rising and sent the euro and shares falling while the risk of holding the debt of potentially vulnerable countries rose alarmingly.
After a tumultuous day in Dublin, where protesters tried to storm the parliament building, the prime minister, Brian Cowen, defied calls for his resignation but conceded he would call an election in the new year. The move was forced upon him after the Green party pulled out of his fragile coalition government, unnerving markets on a day which was supposed to restore confidence in Europe's decade-old single currency.
Instead there was a sense of growing unease in the markets amid evidence that investors felt Portugal would not survive without aid., Dealers said sentiment in the markets was reminiscent of the days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Read on and comment >>> Jill Treanor, Nicholas Watt and Henry McDonald in Dublin | Monday, November 22, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The euro is facing an unprecedented crisis after another country indicated that it was at a “high risk” of requiring an international bail-out.
Portugal became the latest European nation to suggest it was on the brink of seeking help from Brussels after Ireland confirmed it had begun preliminary talks over its debt problems.
Greece also disclosed yesterday that its economic problems are even worse than previously thought. Last night, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the spectre of the euro collapsing as she warned: “If the euro fails, then Europe fails.” >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels and Robert Winnett | Monday, November 15, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Portugal has admitted that it could become the latest European Union country to seek a bail-out as the eurozone debt crisis deepened.
Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, the Portuguese Finance Minister, has warned that the fall out from concerns over Ireland's public finances could create a contagion effect among its neighbours.
"The risk is high because we are not facing only a national or country problem," he told Dow Jones news wires, in reference to the possibility that Lisbon will need international financial assistance.
“It is the problems of Greece, Portugal and Ireland. This is not a problem of only this country. This has to do with the euro zone and the stability of the eurozone, and that is why contagion in this framework is more likely. >>> Andrew Hough, Bruno Waterfield in Brussels, Robert Winnett and Heidi Blake | Monday, November 15, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Europe stumbles blindly towards its 1931 moment: It is the European Central Bank that should be printing money on a mass scale to purchase government debt, not the US Federal Reserve. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Monday, June 07, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le premier mariage homosexuel a été célébré lundi au Portugal, pays à forte majorité catholique doté depuis mai dernier d’une loi autorisant les unions entre personnes du même sexe.
Le premier mariage homosexuel a été célébré ce lundi au Portugal, pays à forte majorité catholique doté depuis mai dernier d’une loi autorisant les unions entre personnes du même sexe.
Teresa Pires et Helena Pixao, deux mères divorcées d’une trentaine d’années qui sont ensemble depuis 2003, se sont mariées en mairie lors d’une cérémonie d’une quinzaine de minutes à Lisbonne. «C’est une grande victoire, un rêve devenu réalité», a déclaré Teresa Pires en embrassant sa compagne.
«Maintenant, nous sommes une famille, c’est la chose importante», a-t-elle ajouté, précisant que son couple continuerait de se battre en faveur de l’égalité des droits pour les homosexuels, y compris en matière d’adoption. >>> AP | Lundi 07 Juin 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
LE POINT: Des milliers de fonctionnaires et de salariés du privé se sont rassemblés, samedi après-midi, à Lisbonne pour participer à une grande manifestation nationale contre les mesures d'austérité annoncées par le gouvernement pour redresser les finances publiques. "Basta !", "Stop à la hausse du chômage", "Non à l'austérité" ou encore "Pour une stabilité de l'emploi", pouvait-on lire sur les pancartes et banderoles déployées au milieu de nombreux drapeaux syndicaux, tandis que des mégaphones crachaient : "Il faut que ça change !" "Nous ne voulons pas que la société portugaise tombe dans l'indifférence et se résigne", a déclaré à l'AFP Manuel Carvalho da Silva, secrétaire général de la CGTP, la principale confédération syndicale du pays, qui a appelé à cette journée d'action. >>> AFP | Samedi 29 Mai 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: LISBON -- Portugal Thursday followed in Spain's footsteps by announcing new austerity measures to shore up investor confidence and avoid a Greece-style financial crisis.
Just days after European Union leaders put together a giant euro-zone financial backstop that was designed in part to ease investor concern about their debts, Portugal and Spain delivered on commitments to accelerate deficit reduction efforts.
"These additional measures are fundamental to defend Portugal and our economy, and to reinforce our credibility in international markets," Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told journalists after a weekly cabinet meeting.
The Socialist prime minister said he agreed on the measures with Pedro Passos Coelho, leader of the country's biggest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party.
The government approved a value-added tax increase of 1 percentage point across all categories, to 6% for necessities, 13% for restaurants and to 21% for most other goods and services. Companies with profits of more than €2 million ($3.6 million) will pay an extra 2.5% tax on their profits.
Government ministers and other top state employees will have their salaries reduced by 5% starting this year. All the new measures will last until the end of 2011. >>> Jeffrey T. Lewis and Jonathan House | Thursday, May 13, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The Pope condemned same sex marriage as a "dangerous and insidious" challenge to society in an address to half a million Catholic faithful.
In a strongly worded attack, Benedict XVI insisted that marriage should be founded on the "indissoluble" marriage between a man and a woman.
Addressing a huge crowd at the shrine of Fatima at the climax of his four day visit to Portugal, the 83-year-old Pope said that same sex marriage and abortion were among the "most insidious and dangerous challenges that today confront the common good."
He expressed his "profound appreciation" for anti-abortion campaigners, who he praised for defending the right to life and the "recovery of people wounded by the drama of abortion".
The Vatican regards being homosexual as a "deviation" and an "irregularity" and the act of homosexual sex as a sin.
In December a leading Roman Catholic cardinal reinforced the message, saying that homosexuality was an "insult to God" and that homosexuals and transsexuals will never go to heaven.
In remarks which outraged gay rights groups, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, 76, claimed that people were not born homosexual, but chose to embrace homosexuality of their own free will.
The Pope himself angered homosexual groups in December 2008 when he suggested that the need to save humanity from the harmful blurring of gender roles was as critical as conserving the world's rainforests. >>> Nick Squires in Fatima | Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The child sex abuse scandal is the greatest threat to the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI said on Tuesday.
The pontiff said the crisis over paedophile priests was "born from sins within the church" not outside, and called for penance.
In some of his strongest comments to date, Pope Benedict said the Catholic church had always suffered from internal problems, but that "today we see it in a truly terrifying way".
"The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice," he said.
The Pope was speaking aboard the papal plane while en route to Portugal, where he began a four-day visit on Tuesday. >>> | Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The Pope will travel to Portugal this week amid hopes that he might shed light on one of the Catholic Church's most intriguing mysteries – the so-called Third Secret of Fatima
During his four day visit, Benedict XVI will pray at the shrine of Fatima, one of the best known centres of Catholic pilgrimage in the world and the focus of endless conspiracy theories and Doomsday predictions.
Its cult is founded on the belief that three shepherd children witnessed a series of apparitions and prophecies of the Virgin Mary in 1917.
Three secrets were supposedly disclosed to them, with the first and second relating to a vision of Hell and predicting the end of World War I, the outbreak of World War II, the collapse of the Soviet Union and Russia's return to Christianity.
The third secret was only disclosed by the Vatican in 2000 and was said to have foretold the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II by a Turkish gunman in 1981. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Sunday, May 09, 2010
Sunday, May 09, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Die sozialistische Minderheitsregierung in Portugal will noch mehr sparen und zwei große Infrastruktur-programme auf Eis legen: den Bau eines neuen internationalen Flughafenssowie eine Brücke. Das kündigte ein portugiesischer Regierungsmitarbeiter an. So soll das Haushaltsdefizit in diesem Jahr auf 7,3 Prozent verringert werden.
Angesichts der Sorge vor einer Ausbreitung der Schuldenkrise in Europa hat Portugal den Euro-Partnern versprochen, sein Haushaltsdefizit in diesem Jahr noch stärker zu bekämpfen. Ministerpräsident Jose Socrates habe am Freitagabend auf dem Euro-Sondergipfel in Brüssel angekündigt, seine sozialistische Minderheitsregierung werde noch mehr sparen und zwei große Infrastrukturprogramme auf Eis legen, sagte ein portugiesischer Regierungsmitarbeiter. Dadurch solle das Haushaltsdefizit in diesem Jahr auf 7,3 Prozent verringert werden. Bisher war das Ziel eine Reduzierung des Defizits auf 8,3 Prozent von 9,4 Prozent im vergangenen Jahr. >>> Reuters/cl | Samstag, 08. Mai 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Auf Italien lastet die grösste Staatsschuld in der EU. Das Land ist aber noch nicht in die Schusslinie der Finanzmärkte geraten. Es scheint solider als die «PIGS» Griechenland, Portugal, Spanien und Irland zu sein.
In den Jahren vor der internationalen Finanzkrise wurde Italien wiederholt als der am schwersten kranke Patient der Euro-Zone geschmäht. Tatsächlich hat die drittgrösste Euro-Wirtschaft die Wirbelstürme an den internationalen Finanzmärkten bisher aber weit besser überstanden als andere hochverschuldete Mitglieder der Europäischen Währungsunion. Die Zins-Spreads zwischen italienischen und deutschen Staatsanleihen zogen weit weniger an als im Fall Griechenlands, Portugals, Spaniens und Irlands. Und auch laut Vertretern führender Rating-Agenturen ist Italien immerhin noch das stabilste Land in der Gruppe der «GIPSI» (Griechenland, Irland, Portugal, Spanien und Italien). Und das I in der anderen pejorativen Abkürzung PIGS stehe für Irland. >>> Nikos Tzermias, Rom | Donnerstag, 29. April 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Finsternis in Griechenland: Griechische Bevölkerung zwischen Verlustängsten und Verzweiflung >>> Von Perikles Monioudis | Mittwoch, 28. April 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Zorn auf die griechische Elite: Verunsicherte Bevölkerung – Furcht vor schmerzhaften Sparmassnahmen >>> Amalia van Gent, Athen | Donnerstag, 29. April 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Berlin streitet um Griechenland-Hilfe: SPD wirft Kanzlerin Merkel vor, die Deutschen zu belügen >>> ddp | Mittwoch 28 April 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Berlin neigt zum fiskalischen Nationalismus: Die Hilfe für Griechenland als Wahlkampfthema >>> Ulrich Schmid, Berlin | Mittwoch, 28. April 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Europe's hopes of containing Greece's credit crisis dimmed as the country's debt woes spread to Portugal, sparking a selloff in markets across the globe and testing the European Union's ability to protect its common currency.
The euro tumbled to its lowest point in a year against the dollar after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut Portugal's credit rating two notches and downgraded Greece's debt to "junk" territory, a first for a euro-zone member. The move is bound to worsen Greece's already dire fiscal situation and hamper a recovery. The news sent the bond yields in both countries soaring, a sign of distress.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 213.04 points, or 1.9%, to 10991.99, suffering its worst decline in both point and percentage terms since Feb. 4. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index tumbled 3.1%. As investors opted for the safety of bonds, the yield on Germany's 10-year benchmark was pushed down to 2.99%, moving below 3% for the first time in more than a year. Yields on U.S. Treasurys also dropped as investors bought.
Asian stock markets tumbled in early trading Wednesday on renewed worries about Greece's problems, with Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average shedding 2.8%.
The force of the market reaction to the downgrades suggests that the EU's fraught, months-long effort to stem Greece's debt crisis has all but failed. Portugal's stagnant economy has been viewed as among the weakest in the euro zone, although its deficit and debt levels aren't as high as Greece's. The debt rating downgrade on Tuesday, to A-minus from A-plus, fueled concerns that Portugal is on the same trajectory as its southern neighbor, despite its more solid fiscal position.
Greece's own turmoil was triggered in part by a similar ratings downgrade in December amid growing concerns about its debt. >>> Matthew Karnitschnig, Stephen Fidler and Tom Lauricella | Tuesday, April 27, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: ‘Greece infection’ spreads as stricken nation’s debt is rated junk: Greece plunged deeper into financial turmoil last night after its government bonds were rated as junk by financial markets. The Portuguese government debt also took a hammering after panic spread that a Mediterranean virus of insolvency and bad debts would infect the rest of Europe. >>> Carl Mortished and David Wighton | Wednesday, April 28, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Greece acts to stop speculators as debt crisis escalates: Greece has moved to stem panic in the country and stop speculators taking advantage of its escalating debt crisis. >>> Malcolm Moore in Shanghai | Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Nach dem vom Staatsbankrott bedrohten Griechenland gerät auch Portugal weiter unter Druck. Die Ratingagentur Standard & Poor's stufte die Kreditwürdigkeit des Landes auf A- herab. Portugal stehe «erweiterten Risiken» gegenüber, hiess es zur Begründung.
Angesichts der dramatischen Schuldenkrise in Griechenland wächst in EU-Kreisen die Befürchtung, dass demnächst auch Portugal sein Defizit nicht mehr in den Griff bekommen könnte. Die Ratingagentur Standard & Poor's hat die Kreditwürdigkeit Portugals am Dienstag auf A- herabgestuft. Damit reagiere man auf «die erweiterten Risiken, denen Portugal gegenübersteht», hiess es in London.
Portugal gilt mit einem Haushaltsdefizit von 9,4 Prozent des Bruttoinlandprodukts (BIP) nach Griechenland als eines der von der Wirtschaftskrise am meisten gefährdeten Mitglieder der Eurozone. >>> ddp | Dienstag, 27. April 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: FRANKFURT — Europe’s debt crisis deepened still further Tuesday after the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greek and Portuguese debt, investors sold off government bonds amid fears of a default, and workers in those Mediterranean nations took to the streets to protest austerity measures.
S.&P. downgraded Greek government debt to junk status, saying in a statement, “Greece’s economic and fiscal prospects lead us to conclude that the sovereign’s creditworthiness is no longer compatible with an investment-grade rating.”
The ratings agency also downgraded Portuguese government bonds, but they remain well above junk status.
“This thing is getting more and more urgent and tense,” said Robert Barrie, head of European economics at Credit Suisse in London. He predicted, though, that markets could settle down once Greece manages to refinance €8.5 billion, or $11.2 billion, in bonds that mature in May. “But it’s anything but calm at the moment,” he added.
As transport workers in both Portugal and Greece went on strike against austerity measures Tuesday, the risk premium on Greece’s bonds set new records even before S.&P. announced the downgrades.
A European Central Bank official warned all euro-zone countries to cut their soaring budget deficits and suggested that Greece may need to impose even harsher austerity measures to bring its debt under control. >>> Jack Ewing | Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Europe's leaders will do their best to put on a show of unity as early as Monday when they announce that they stand ready to help Greece recover from its financial disaster.
But the deal is just a thin veneer over permanent disagreements about how to run the European Union, and Brussels is about to embark on another round of damaging internal debate which will further distance it from the bloc's 500 million citizens.
Greece is the weakest but not the only member of the 16-country eurozone in deep trouble. It must borrow over 50 billion euros on the international markets this year or else it could go bust. The other countries that use the euro, led by Germany and France, are likely to say that their private banks will guarantee to help meet those financing needs should willing investors turn out to be in short supply. That, allied to a massive round of spending cuts inside Greece designed to reduce the budget deficit, should be enough to calm markets and stabilise the situation.
It won't stop Greeks from rioting, however. Just as in the UK, US and everywhere else, ordinary workers can't see why they have to swallow pay cuts, tax rises and cuts in services as a result of incompetent politicians and mendacious bankers. Greece's socialist government, recently elected, is suffering from internal dissent at the price to be paid for outside help. The deficit is more than four times higher than eurozone rules allow, but reducing it could be a dangerous process in a country plagued by social unrest and which was under military rule as recently as the 1970s.
As for the rest of the eurozone and the European Union, the big beasts of the continent - the UK, France and Germany - have never seen eye to eye on the level of economic oversight and political interference they would countenance from Brussels. It was hoped that the passage of the Lisbon Treaty, the reforms of the EU's rules and institutions just enacted after much pain, would still that debate and end internal wrangling for a decade.
Instead, Greece's problems, and those yet to be played out in full in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and elsewhere, have exposed the messy and inadequate compromises agreed for the co-ordination of vastly disparate economies. It hasn't worked; a new framework is required. >>> Adrian Michaels and Bruno Waterfield | Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saturday, March 06, 2010
LE TEMPS: Entre les exigences de Bruxelles pour qu’il prenne des mesures d’austérité drastiques et l’inquiétude de l’opinion, le premier ministre socialiste a une marge de manœuvre bien réduite
Le ciel politique du flamboyant premier ministre, José Socrates, est empli de nuages menaçants. Au lendemain d’une grève des fonctionnaires – suivie jeudi à 80% –, et alors que Bruxelles exige de lui des mesures drastiques pour réduire le déficit public, la situation du leader socialiste est devenue difficilement tenable. Car, non seulement José Socrates va devoir annoncer d’ici peu des réformes très impopulaires (réduction des dépenses de santé, gel des salaires de la fonction publique, baisse des indemnités chômage…), mais il fait face à une série de scandales économico-médiatiques dans lesquels il serait impliqué.
Enquête parlementaire
La semaine prochaine, une commission d’enquête parlementaire sera constituée pour faire la vérité sur son rôle dans le rachat de la télévision privée TVI – l’une des deux plus importantes – par Portugal Telecom, le géant des télécommunications du pays, sous contrôle gouvernemental. Pour la première fois depuis le retour de la démocratie en 1974, un chef de l’exécutif sera appelé à comparaître personnellement dans une affaire qui pourrait le forcer à la démission. >>> François Musseau | Samedi 06 Mars 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)