Sanctions and the cost of living

The people of Portugal are struggling with a cost of living crisis that shows no sign of abating any time soon despite – and perhaps because of - sanctions imposed by the West on Russia in response to its war in Ukraine.

Dr Uwe Werblow (pictured below), now retired and living in the Algarve, served for decades as a senior official with the European Commission Directorate-General for Development. He questions whether sanctions are of any use in forcing ​a​ country to behave better. More on that in a moment.

Inflation in Portugal settled at 8.2% in February, slightly down for the fourth consecutive month, but the cost of foodstuffs has increased by 21.5% since the same time last year. House prices had risen by 18.7%, the highest in three decades. Rents have significantly increased too, but wages have not.

Government data shows that more than half of the working population earn ​less​ than €1,000 a month. The minimum wage is €760. It is little wonder that thousands of protesters have been taking to the streets of Lisbon to demand an end to letting the poor get poorer in what is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe.

The current crisis started with the COVID pandemic and was later fuelled by energy price hikes as a result of the war in Ukraine. The crisis has now spread to all commodities, especially food, throughout the European Union and far beyond. It’s reckoned to be the worst cost of living crisis in 50 years.

The rising costs are the most pressing worry for 93% of Europeans, according to a recent European Parliament Eurobarometer survey. In Greece, 100% of respondents said they were worried. In Cyprus the figure was 99%, followed by 98% in Italy and the same in Portugal. These worries are felt regardless of gender or age, as well as educational or socio-professional backgrounds.

The second biggest issue to surface from the survey was that 82% of respondents worried about ​the threat of poverty and social exclusion. Global warming and the danger of the Ukraine war spreading across Europe were equal worries, but only in third place with 81%.

Only a third of Europeans expressed satisfaction with what their national government was doing to tackle the rising cost of living, while about 45% of respondents said they were already having difficulty managing bills on their personal income.

However, not everyone is losing out. Energy companies, pharmaceutical corporations, big tech and multinationals operating in the food and luxury sectors have all been raking in billions of euros in profits, say politicians in the European Parliament.

The fossil fuel industry has turned the war in Ukraine into a​n ​opportunity for extra profits. The Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni and Repsol companies reportedly made €78 billion in profits up to September last year.

“The fossil fuel industry has avoided having to foot the bill of an energy crisis of its own making,” according to Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a research and campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby supporters in EU policy making. It was the spike in energy prices that followed the invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions on Russia, coming o​n​ top of post-COVID difficulties, “that cascaded into a full-scale cost of living crisis,” says the group.

Restrictions introduced during the COVID pandemic impacted heavily on incomes and living costs everywhere. Compared with many other countries, the Portuguese government did remarkably well in handling the pandemic, but the cost of living crisis is a very different matter, largely outside the government’s ability to control.

Russia is severely harming - or even crippling - economies by limiting energy and essential food supplies, as well as fertilisers, metals and other important exports from Ukraine and the Soviet Union itself.

In the Algarve, Dr Uwe Werblow was forthright in his opinion about the impact of sanctions. “My main question is: are western sanctions against Russia more harmful for our own economies and people than for Russia?”

He continued: “Sanctions as a means to discipline trouble- making countries and regimes instead of going to war was developed by Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, in 1910.
Looking at a number of recent cases, I have the impression that the “economic war” hardly works in our globalised world. The Cuban regime has survived 50 years. Obama stopped the sanctions and looked for alternative measures. Iran, since Trump reinstated the sanctions in 2018, has increased GNP by four times in 2022. Russia makes more money with oil and gas than ever before. The new clients India and China and others are very happy!

“As a result, I see plenty of opportunities and trade partners to help weaken and undermine sanctions.... the creation of new alliances to create even more trouble.... and, very often, a weakening of our own western economy.”

WEDNESDAY BRIEFING

Behind this week's headlines

 

Tourism soaring

The occupancy rate last month in Algarve hotels and resorts was its highest in 16 years, according to the National Statistics Institute. The overall number of international tourists to Portugal almost doubled last year. 2023 is predicted to be another exceptionally busy year for tourism in the Algarve, Lisbon and other popular Portuguese destinations.  

  

Catholic abuse

The Cardinal-Patriarch of Lisbon has ruled that no priests accused of sexually abusing children will be suspended without “proven facts” and a canonical process carried out by the Holy See. However, the auxiliary bishop of Lisbon has promised there will be “zero tolerance” for abusive priests. New and hopefully more detailed measures are expected to be announced this week. 

 

Airline boss sacked

The government has fired the CEO of Portugal’s state-owned airline, TAP. She was caught in a scandal involving a severance payment of €500,000 to a former board member. The board chairman has also been fired. Neither will receive any compensation. The beneficiary of the severance payment has been ordered to refund €450,000. The government is now looking to privatise the airline. 

 

Troubled teachers 

School teachers, particularly in the main cities, Lisbon and Porto, have continued to publicly protest against what they regard as poor wages and other unacceptable aspects of their professional employment. They say they are determined to “fight on.” Meanwhile, pupils and their parents remain confused as to when teachers are available for normal classes.

 

Ocean protection

Portugal’s president has welcomed the UN High Seas Treaty announced at the weekend. Well over a decade in the making, the treaty aims by 2030 to protect marine species in 30% of the world’s international waters where all countries have a right to fish, ship and do research. Only 1.2% of these waters are currently protected.  Almost 200 countries have signed the new, historic, legally binding agreement.

 

Reducing shellfish contamination

Researchers at the Algarve Centre of Marine Sciences at the University of the Algarve have developed a way of reducing biotoxin contamination in shellfish. The biotoxin originates in the algae eaten by shellfish without causing them any harm, but biotoxins can cause illness and even death to humans and other mammals that eat them.

Breakthrough drug for AMD

 

A drug has been developed to help those with the dry version of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) that up until now has remained untreatable.

Many people in Portugal and around the world suffer from this disease, which causes a loss of vision in the centre of the retina. It nearly always only affects people after the age of 50, but then it progressively worsens making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to carry out some ordinary activities such as reading, writing, driving and watching television. 

There are two kinds of AMD: dry and wet. Both cause a blurring of vision that can eventually lead almost to blindness. The wet form has long been treatable, though it can be at considerable cost and the treatment is not always successful. For decades, most elderly people with the dry kind have given up hope of a remedy in their lifetime. 

The president of the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology, Dr Rufino Silva, explains on the society’s website that AMD initially shows practically no symptoms and affected people may not even know they have the disease. Only examination by an ophthalmologist allows the correct diagnosis to be made. 

Prevention involves a diet rich in vegetables and fruit, taking vitamins and antioxidants that have been studied for this disease and which may be prescribed by an ophthalmologist. Importantly, it also involves taking physical exercise and not smoking. 

Dr Silva says that anyone who notices a distortion of images should immediately consult an ophthalmologist, and that it is also important to start treatment within one or two weeks.

Persons who already know they have ADM at first see objects or people's faces somewhat distorted, then a shadow appears in the central field of vision, preventing them from seeing clearly a  face they may be looking at. They may not recognise friends passing by in the street or sitting at the next table in a restaurant. 

The disease progresses with time and in the intermediate stages can cause changes in contrast, colour and low-light vision. In the later stages, there is a much more serious loss of sight that may almost reach blindness. It is the most common cause of near blindness in Portugal for persons over 65 years of age.

The treatment for wet AMD can prevent severe vision loss. It is done with intravitreal injections and it may be necessary to maintain this treatment for several years. A new drug, Vabysmo, was introduced last year for both wet AMD and diabetic macular edema (DME). It was the first bispecific antibody approved for eye treatment.

The new drug for dry AMD is called Syfovre. Although it is not a cure and does not bring back normal vision, clinical trials have shown it can slow the progression of the disease. It will be administered with an injection to the eye every 25 to 60 days. 

Syfovre has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and patients in the United States are expected to start having treatment this week. It is still too early to tell just how beneficial the drug will be and there are even question marks about possible risks, such as turning dry into wet AMD.  

However, Geraldine Hoad, research manager at the Macular Society in the UK has said: “This development is a huge milestone for patients living with dry AMD, who up to this point have not had any treatment available for their condition. We hope to have a clearer picture in the coming months.” 

 A submission is being made to the British Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency to have Syfovre approved in the United Kingdom. Before it can be administered in Portugal or any EU member country, the drug will need the approval of the European Commission.  

+ Apologies: this posting, scheduled for Sunday as usual, was delayed because of a computer technical problem.

WEDNESDAY BRIEFING

Behind this week's headlines

Shoppers beware!

The Portuguese Food and Economic Security Authority has been carrying out inspections on supermarkets because some may have been charging more than displayed on shelves. Eighty inspectors were at work checking on Wednesday as basic basket prices for foodstuffs increased by 21.1% last year, more than twice the rate of inflation.

 

Inflation dropping

The National Statistics Institute announced on Tuesday that the consumer price index fell from January by an estimated 0.2% to 8.2% in February. This was the fourth consecutive fall.

 

More renewable electricity

The government wants to increase the amount of renewable energy in electricity production to 80% in the next three years, according to the minister of environment and climate action. Portugal has natural resources that cannot be underestimated, he said.

 

Cutting plastic waste

Ahead of a UN meeting on plastic rubbish, the EU wants sweeping new packaging regulations for Portugal and all 26 other nations in the bloc. The new rules would require companies to make the containers for takeaway food and drinks easier to reuse and recycle, thus causing less pollution, according to Bloomberg Green.

 

Child abuse in 2022

Portugal’s criminal investigation police (PJ) detained 210 people for sex crimes against children in 2022, the highest number in the last five years. The Luca news agency was informed of this by the criminal coordinator of these cases in Lisbon and the Tagus Valley.

 

Affordable housing

The state wants to make more land available for affordable housing projects in the wake of scrapping golden visas and banning new short-term rental licences that have greatly pushed up housing prices for residents while their wages have remained the same.  

 

Isabel dos Santos

The former billionaire Isabel dos Santos, whose assets have been frozen in Angola and Portugal, reportedly still owns luxury properties in London worth more than £20 million. Interpol is seeking her arrest for alleged embezzlement, fraud, influence pedalling and money laundering. She is thought to be living in the United Arab Emirates.

 

End-of-life care in the Algarve

The Madrugada palliative care association, founded in 2009, continues to give invaluable support at home to an increasing number of people suffering life-limiting illnesses. But it requires more volunteers and more financial help to maintain its comprehensive range of free specialist services.

Based in Praia da Luz, Madrugada (meaning ‘dawn’) relies on volunteers and funding from its four charity shops as well as donations from the community. It has extended its operations eastward in recent years well beyond Lagoa and Silves to Ferreiras near Albufeira.

Madrugada has a clinical team based at the support centre in Praia da Luz that provides regular home visits to patients as well as managing the storage of clinical equipment necessary to facilitate patients. Equipment is provided to patients free of charge.

“At our charity shops in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Lagoa and Ferreiras we rely on volunteers for the daily running of the shops,” says Suzana de Lima, Madrugada’s administration manager. She adds: “ These volunteers provide diverse skills to the shops, such as collecting, sorting and selling. For anyone with a few hours to spare, Madrugada would be grateful if you joined the volunteer team.”

The volunteer community is very diverse, with many coming from countries such as the UK, Germany, Netherlands, and some from the Azores and Madeira as well as mainland Portugal.

As an example of the help given to patients living at home in the Algarve, a woman with terminal cancer contacted Madrugada, which  without delay sent an experienced nurse to discuss with both the woman and her husband their personal, pressing needs. The nurse´s advice included a recommendation to contact the palliative care team from the national health services (SNS) responsible for the Barlavento area and located in the local health centre in Lagoa.

A doctor and nurses came to consult and treat the patient with free medications. Similar visits, along with those of the Madrugada nurse, continued regularly each week and it was made clear they were available at any time. The patient – in this case a German-born woman who has lived in the Algarve for many years – was immensely grateful. 

Madrugada charity shops accept and stock clean, good-quality donations ranging from furniture and clothes of all kinds to interesting gift items. They are sold at low prices by courteous volunteer assistants. The money raised helps Madrugada provide complementary therapies, family and bereavement counselling, as well as clinical equipment.

Anyone who feels they would like to help in any way can find details of Madrugada´s work and needs by checking their website http://madrugada-portugal.com or phoning +351 282 761 375. For specialist information, ask to speak to the clinical manager, Tanja Himming or email clinical@madrugada-portugal.com  For fundraising or volunteer information contact the administration manager, Suzana de Lima on the central phone number of email operations@madrugada-portugal.com

Two palliative care conferences are scheduled for Lisbon this year: April 15 and October 28. 

 

WEDNESDAY BRIEFINGS

Behind this week's headlines

Biden and Putin 

The contrasting speeches yesterday, Tuesday, by President Biden and President Putin were highly relevant in Portugal and the rest of Europe, as in the United States and Russia.  The only thing the presidents seemed to agree on was that the conflict in Ukraine is nowhere near an end. Putin also announced a suspension of Russia’s participation in its last remaining treaty with the United States.  

Reaction to Putin’s suspension

Portugal’s foreign affairs minister has accused President Putin of making “absolutely delusional” claims about the war in Ukraine in his speech on Tuesday when he announced Moscow’s suspension of the nuclear arms control agreement. Portugal’s president says the next few months will be “a decisive period” for the war in Ukraine with the two sides seeking to reach the autumn in a position of strength.

Cold weather coming back

Polar air will cause a sharp drop in temperatures across mainland Portugal to between 5C and 10C amid strong winds and rain, meteorologist Jorge Ponte told the Luca news agency today, Wednesday. There was no indication of when this dismal weather was coming.  

Earthquake team back home

On Monday, the Lisbon City Council honoured the 52-member rescue and recovery team who had returned from Turkey. That same day another 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria causing more deaths and devastation just two weeks after the first double tremor that killed more than 46,000 people and left at least a million homeless.

Handling the housing crisis

The Portuguese government is about to introduce a hefty package of measures to tackle the housing crisis. The highly controversial Golden Visa scheme is being scrapped. No new licences for Airbnb holiday accommodation will be issued. Other measures will be brought into force next month. Portuguese residents have been severely impacted by soaring property purchase and rental prices. Rental prices in Lisbon rose by 37% last year. 

Big tourism surge expected

Reports suggest that there will be a massive increase in the number of tourists who are hoping to come to Portugal this year. This could cause disappointments, as new holiday rentals will be restricted in most popular destinations – the only exceptions being rural areas “without urban pressure.” 

Tourist boat sinks

A tourist boat with 36 people on board, including four children, sank after developing a leak 600 metres off Alfanzina lighthouse in the Algarve on Monday. The nearest rescue services – the Portimão Maritime Police and the Ferragudo Lifeboat – were quickly on the scene along with other nearby tourists’ boats to rescue all from the water.  

Round the Algarve winner

The 26-year-old  Colombian professional road cyclist Dani Martínez won the overall title in this year’s five-stage Volta ao Algarve that started last Wednesday and finished on Sunday. The whole event, covering much of the length and breadth of the region, presented the Algarve in a good light and was followed by cycling enthusiasts around the world.   

 

The Catholic Church in crisis

As the shockwaves of last week’s revelations about child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Portugal subside somewhat, it is worth remembering that Catholicism has been at the forefront of atrocious behaviour towards children for centuries.

The Catholic Church has certainly not been the only religious or political entity involved in inhumane activity, and historical records are just a backdrop to the moral misconduct in recent decades that has at last been highlighted by those Catholics who have courageously lifted the veil of silence on abuse.

Catholic Crusaders slaughtered hundreds of Muslim and Jewish men, women and children on entering Jerusalem in 1099. The so-called ‘Children’s Crusade,’ initiated supposedly by a divine instruction, sent children to march along with women and elderly people from Europe towards the Holy Land in 1212.

This was during the Crusader wars (1095 to 1291) in which European Catholics made a series of violent and often ruthless invasions into the Middle East to seize land from Muslims and Jews. All three faiths regarded the land in the war zones as sacred. All three worshipped the same God, only in different ways.

A countless number of children were among the victims of the Portuguese and Spanish Inquisitions that lasted from 1478 to 1834. During the Passover in 1497, Portuguese authorities raided Jewish communities, seized all Jewish children below the age of fourteen and forcibly baptised then into the Catholic faith. Parents were not allowed to be reunited with their children unless they agreed to be baptised too. Many children were lost and many of their parents committed suicide in the churches they were to be baptised in.

Popes and priests were very much involved in slavery. Towards the end of the Middle Ages the Catholic Church abolished the enslavement of Christians, but it was still permissible to enslave non-Christians, including children. In 1761 Portugal banned bringing slaves into this country, but carried on trafficking until 1869 an estimated 4.5 to 6 million slaves from Africa across the Atlantic Ocean, mainly to Brazil.

Regarding the Holocaust, the part played by Catholics, particularly Pope Pius Xll, is a highly contentious matter. Since then, however, the issue has not been so much about Catholics harming those of other faiths as harming those of their own. Cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests started in the United States in 1985. The full scale of the systematic priestly perversion began to filter out in 2002 with articles published by the Boston Globe. Numerous bishops arranged cover-ups, many successfully, but by 2012 the dioceses in which the crimes had been committed were forced to pay more than $12 billion in settlements to victims. Critics said the payout allow the Church to escape proper justice.  

A deluge of scandals has rocked the Church in other countries as a result of independent inquiries such as that carried out in Portugal. About 216,000 children were abused by the clergy in France between 1950 and 2020. Many of the thousands of victims in Ireland were abused in Catholic orphanages. Paedophile priests have been abusing in several other European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. There has been more of the same in South America, Canada and New Zealand. In Australia, the Vatican’s former finance chief, Cardinal George Pell, was found guilty in 2018 of sexually abusing choirboys in Melbourne in the 1990s.

On and on it has gone: clergymen abusing, raping and causing life-long trauma. The Church has at times been secretive in allowing many of these criminals to move to other dioceses or retire without punishment. Hypocritical priests have been able to preach to their congregations about the need to avoid sinfulness, but have they themselves been much concerned about divine retribution? Pope Francis has expressed his deep sorrow and disgust. It remains to be seen if he can put an end to the crisis.

Like all the vast number of decent Catholics, especially parents, Pope Francis will be aware of the many kind things mentioned about children in the Bible, such as: “Children are a gift from the Lord” (Psalms 127:3).

The well-known atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins, claims that forcing religion on children is as bad as child sexual abuse. He has repeatedly said that sexual abuse “arguably causes less long-term psychological damage” than being brought up a Catholic. A growing number of people - former Catholics as well as non-religious people – agree. Catholicism is in steep decline in Portugal as in many other parts of the world. Some think the decline could be terminal in the decades ahead as young people become better educated, more scientifically minded and distrustful of dogmatic teachings.  

Meanwhile, it is ironic that young people from around the world are being encouraged to register as volunteers to help arrange the World Youth Day in Lisbon, which will be attended by Pope Francis in the first week of August.