PORTUGAL TODAY

Lisbon dispatches released by Wikileaks

The huge batch of documents released by Wikileaks at the weekend is said to contain 722 dispatches sent from the United States Embassy in Lisbon. Some are marked “Secret”. Tantalisingly, we don't know yet what is in them.

Many people would rather we were not be told, but it seems likely that we will be, especially if the contents of the documents are controversial or embarrassing in any way.

First reports suggest that many of the 722 cables focus on global terrorism, military operations and the economy. The first of the communications was sent on 24 May 2006 and the last on 25 February this year.

The US Embassy in Lisbon yesterday condemned Wikileaks. In line with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's castigation in a TV broadcast, the Embassy called the Wikileaks action an irresponsible attempt to destroy global security, adding that it could endanger lives.

Following yesterday's revelations about Arab countries wanting the US to bomb Iran, comes news this morning that China would be willing to accept Korean reunification.

There is more, much more to come.

PORTUGAL TOMORROW

Old Iberian foes stand united

Government offices, banks and many businesses will be closed tomorrow. It's not another general strike. It's a day of celebration rather than protest. It's Portugal's Independence Day and this year there is an interesting twist to it.

What is being celebrated is not the country's original independence back in 1145. That's what October 5th is all about. December 1st marks the anniversary of the restoration of independence from Spain following 60 years of Spanish domination between 1580 and 1640.

During that period of annexation, Spain dragged Portugal into wars against the English, the French and the Dutch. The 'invincible' Spanish Armada set sail in 1588 not from Spain, but Lisbon. To help pay for this and other foreign exploits, the Spanish heavily taxed the Portuguese people.

Right royally fed up of rule from Madrid by Philip IV, a band of conspirators stormed the Governor's palace in Lisbon in 1640 and by popular acclaim installed the Duke of Bragança as João IV of Portugal.

The relationship between the Iberian neighbours remained rather frosty right up until they became members of the European Union. Today they are united like never before. The two nations put in a joint bid to host the 2018 football World Cup.

They are competing against England, Russia and a joint Netherlands/Belgium bid. Portuguese and Spanish officials are said to be 'moderately confident” of winning. The executive of football's world ruling body, FIFA, will vote on it in Zurich on Thursday.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Wealth, wasted wisdom and counterfeit cash

The tycoon Stanley Ho of former Portuguese Macau paid $330,000 at the weekend for two Italian truffles.

The billionaire bought the truffles at an auction held simultaneously in Macau, Rome and London. They weighed 900 grams and 400 grams.

'The Gambling King' as he is know, held the monopoly on casinos in Macau for 40 years. He has investments in Portugal, including the Algarve, and has a road named after him in Estoril.

White truffles are the rarest and most expensive type. The 900 gram (two pound) fungus was found in Italy's central Tuscany region. The smaller one was from Molise.

The bidding was relayed via satellite link from the restaurants Don Alfonso 1890 in Macau, La Pergola in Rome and Franco's in Jeremy Street, London.

A total of 16 lots fetched altogether $373 000.“It was fun,” said Piers Boothman, associate director of Christie's International.

Proceeds will go to charity.

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Portugal has never had so many university graduates - but it has never been so difficult for young people to find jobs. For many there is a stark choice: unemployment or emigration.

 

Some commentators are suggesting that the country is on track to lose an entire generation.

The academic qualifications of Portugal's workforce generally are considered to be low. So the number of graduates applying for jobs should be good news. And yet one in ten graduates is said to be leaving the country.

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More than ever we need to question if the cash in our pockets or under the mattress is for real. A report just out says that so far this year nearly €24 million in counterfeit notes have been detected in the eurozone.

In Portugal, the number of fake €50s this year has reached a record level. Reassuringly, however, the Bank of Portugal says the chance of receiving a counterfeit note in this country is “probably very low.” However, it advises us if in doubt “to check and compare.”

Of the half a million counterfeit notes detected in the EU between January and August, more than 215,000 were €50s. The next commonest were €20s.

INSIDE ALGARVE

Controversial retail giant signs deal

At a time of dismal economic predictions, business closures and job losses, comes news of a huge new commercial venture in the region.

A year after Ikea announced its hopes of opening a store in Loulé, the Swedish chain is to to sign a co-operation agreement with Loulé câmara next Thursday.

Ikea is the world's largest furniture retailer. It specialises in designing and selling ready-to-assemble furniture, home accessories and appliances.

In addition to a massive Ikea store, the new Loulé project is expected to incorporate a retail park and shopping mall. Hopefully by the time it all comes to fruition, Portugal will be well on the road to all-round prosperity.

The Loulé deal comes as a brand new book, The Truth about Ikea, is causing considerable controversy. The author, Johan Stenebo, is a former executive who worked his way up from trainee to managing director of an Ikea subsidiary, GreenTech.

In a review on Friday The Guardian called the book “explosive.” Stenebo claims that far from offering British shoppers a bargain, at the height of its power in the 1990s Ikea betrayed its golden rule – that prices should be 10% lower than those of its rivals – and ruthlessly overcharged British shoppers to boost profits.

As Businessweek put it, “The Swedish furniture giant has long been viewed as a model company. But an unprecedented insider account by a former exec paints a much darker picture.”

According to Stenebo, “few retailers are as smart at extracting money from customers' pockets.”

PORTUGAL TODAY

Mediterranean diet dumped

It would appear that most young people in this country have lost their appetite for the Mediterranean diet that is supposed to be so good for them.

More than 50 percent of the population aged between 10 and 18 are overweight and nearly nine percent are actually obese. These are the findings of a national study to be presented at a congress on obesity in Portugal today.

The study, by a team from the universities of Oporto and the Minho, says that obesity is most prevalent among the young and especially among boys. It is the impact this could have on health in later life, on mortality rates and the economy, that is concerning specialists.

The researchers who carried out the study believe the blame for 95% of childhood obesity can be attributed to nutritional and lifestyle problems. Only 5% of cases are genetic in character. Today's conference will discuss what more can be done to contain the problem.

The overweight trend is not confined to Portugal, of course. It is rampant in the other Mediterranean diet countries of southern Europe. Indeed, people are getting fatter almost everywhere. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally. The World Health Organisation predicts there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015 and more than 700 million of them will be obese.

This is mainly due to increased consumption of more energy dense, poor nutrient foods with high levels of sugar and saturated fats, combined with less physical activity. The upshot here and elsewhere is expected to be an exponential rise in heart problems, type II diabetes and other diseases, including some cancers.

Much of this could be curtailed by more exercise and a return to the Mediterranean diet. So bring on the fish, vegetables, fruit and whole grains, along with a generous splash of virgin olive oil and, for those who are old enough, a glass or two of red wine.

PORTUGAL TODAY

Here's to a happy and austere New Year

Another miserable week of tedious but crucial European economic manoeuvrings ended yesterday with Portugal's parliament approving its austerity budget for next year.

The budget contains a raft of tough measures aimed at sorting out the country's high debt and low growth problems. The hope is that they will restore market confidence and avoid the indignity of a bailout similar to those thrust upon Greece and Ireland.

It remains to be seen if the austerity measures quell alarm among investors and dampen speculation that Portugal is next in line to fall to 'contagion', the much-hyped European economic domino scenario.

The austerity measures officially approved yesterday are going to be felt by all in this country. Prime Minister José Sócrates admitted after yesterday's parliamentary vote that Portugal had "no alternative at all" but to accept them.

FT Deutschland said a majority of euro-zone states and the European Central Bank were leaning on Portugal to follow the example of Ireland and Greece in seeking a rescue plan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Reuters yesterday reported a Portuguese government spokesman as saying: "This news article is completely false".

José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president and former Portuguese prime minister, was adamant that an aid plan for Portugal had neither been requested nor suggested.

"I can tell you that it's absolutely false, completely false," he told reporters in Paris.

PORTUGAL TODAY
Parliament to vote on austerity measures

Big day in Lisbon following Wednesday's shut-down. Parliament will vote on the Socialist government's plan to introduce highly unpopular austerity measures, including pay cuts for civil servants, lower welfare benefits and an increase in value-added tax to 23 percent.

If passed as expected, the measures will be introduced on 1^st January.

The vote comes the day after a lengthy European Commission report on the labour market shows that by working longer hours for the same money workers in Portugal have helped the country weather the current financial crisis better than some other member states.

Although unemployment stands at nearly 11 percent, the average hours worked per person has increased and this has boosted productivity.
The government hopes the austerity measures starting on 1^st January will help solve the country's debt crisis and quell speculation that Portugal will be next, after Ireland and Greece, to request an international bailout.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates insists that the economic situation in Portugal is very different to that in Greece and Ireland and that this country does not need a lifeline from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Yesterday, investors kept up pressure on Portugal amid fears that we could be the next victim of the current 'contagion' crisis. If Portugal succumbs, Spain is likely to be next. The focus may then shift to Italy.


ALGARVE HOTWIRE
The Russians may be coming

News that Britain's second biggest tour operator, Thomas Cook, has bought a controlling interest in the huge Russian travel company, Intourist, brings a ray of hope for an improvement in the number of visitors coming to the Algarve next year.

The deal is expected to enable Thomas Cook to meet the growing demand in Russia for holidays in the sun. Egypt and Turkey are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries, but the Algarve may pick up a significant amount of business.

More than six million Russians went on overseas packaged holidays last year. The market is expected to grow by a double-digit percentage in the coming years, according to a statement from Thomas Cook.

This is refreshing news in the wake of Thomas Cook's cancellation of package holidays to the Algarve this winter. They will not resume until April.

Alex Ellis, Britain's 'digital diplomat'

Alex Ellis, who is soon to move on from his post as British ambassador in Portugal, is not your average fuddy-duddy diplomat.

A BBC correspondent described Ellis as “our bicycling, open-shirted and youthful man in Lisbon.”

After three years as “an unfeasibly young” envoy, Mr Ellis is to return to London to take up the post of Director for Strategy within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

What makes him different from all of his predecessors is not only that he's a youthful cyclist; he's also a blogger. He has had a blog running in Expresso online since 2008. This was in response to an Expresso invitation. Unlike many people in high positions, he writes his own blogs – and he does so in Portuguese.

What he likes about blogging for Expresso is that it allows his messages to reach a much wider audience across Portugal than they would through the British Embassy website. (To view his blog, go to http://aeiou.expresso.pt/um-bife-mal-passado=s24971.

"I blog to change the brand,” he explained, "to reach a new audience, to learn myself, and to make people laugh."

At a conference in the UK earlier this year he revealed that his mother had asked him what exactly he did as ambassador. He told her: “If you go to jail we visit you – once!”

He was jesting of course but this reply inadvertently highlighted a bone of contention in some circles in the Algarve. Modernisation within the FCO during Ambassador Ellis' tenure in Lisbon has meant less personal attention to British nationals abroad who get into trouble with the law, and more focus on such things as efficiency and cost-cutting.

Ambassador Ellis, however, showed considerable concern for those caught up in the flooding and mud slides in Madeira in February this year. He flew to the island with a consular rapid reaction team to provide support to affected Britons.

He started his Foreign Office career with the UK team supporting the transition to multi-party democracy in South Africa following the release of Nelson Mandela. He was in Brussels while negotiations were going on to establish the euro. In Madrid he worked on EU and economic issues and then in London on the 2004 EU enlargement. Between 2005 and 2007 he was an adviser to José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, on energy, climate change, competition, development, trade and strategy.

Having served as a junior member of the political team in the Lisbon Embassy in Lisbon between 1992 and 1996, he was an old Portugal hand when he arrived here as ambassador in 2007. And now another chapter in his rapid career rise is ending.

Last night, on probably his last visit to the Algarve, he was guest of honour at a British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce dinner. Today he will attend a consular lunch to mark the recent appointments of Clive Jewell as British Consul to the Algarve and Miguel Sengo da Costa as British Honorary Consul in the Faro area.

When Alex Ellis relinquishes his post at the end of December. Joanna Kuenssberg O'Sullivan, counsellor and deputy chief of mission at the embassy, will hold the fort until a new ambassador arrives.

FOCUS
Deepening anxiety in the Algarve

Today's nationwide general strike is unlikely to do anything to dispel deeping public anxiety about unemployment, job insecurity, pay cuts and rising prices in the Algarve.

The prevailing mood among workers seems to be despondency rather than outright anger, a feeling of fatalistic pessimism rather than demonstrative outrage.

The mood had set in long before the Government announced its 2011 budget, which includes cuts in civil servants' pay along with a hike in value-added tax from 21 percent to 23 percent. These austerity measures are only part of the story.

Although the Government is taking the brunt of today's nationwide expression of dissatisfaction, it is only partly to blame. External factors have been at work.

From time immemorial, fishing and farming were the twin pillars of the Algarve's economy. Tourism and property development started taking over in the 1960s but were interrupted by the 1974 revolution.

Once democracy had become firmly established, tourism and property development greatly expanded. Boosted by Portugal's entry into the EEC in 1986, they quickly eclipsed the traditional sources of income and employment.

During the first six years of the new millennium the Algarve had never had it so good. Then came the crunch. The warning signs emerged in 2007. The storm broke in 2008. It worsened in 2009. The crisis has rocked us this year and will almost certainly continue throughout 2011.

Tourism has taken a bashing because of conditions in our main market, the UK. Suffering austerities of their own at home, British holidaymakers were insisting more than ever on value for money. The exchange rates put a lot of visitors off. The pound and the euro now have almost the same value. The competition from inexpensive destinations in eastern Europe is fierce. In some ways – golf for example – the Algarve is in danger of out-pricing itself. Fortnights of fun in the Algarve sun at little cost are a thing of the past.

For the first time in decades, major tour operators have discontinued winter flights, thus adding to the already alarming number of job losses and business closures in the tourism sector.

The slump in the property market is even worse. Construction companies, suppliers of building materials, estate agents, decorators, furniture firms, landscape gardeners and everyone else involved are having a very hard time in a once booming sector that is now virtually moribund.

The knock-on effects are being felt in all other sections of the community. Wth so many people out of work, worried about being forced out of work, or having no option but to accept lower incomes in the face of ever-increasing prices for everyday needs, it is no wonder there is anxiety out there.

Interestingly, a recent poll in the United States showed that the things disturbing Americans the most are the economy, the government and unemployment. A similar poll in Portugal might come to the same conclusion.

Today's general strike is focusing on the Government's new austerity measures. It will be an opportunity to let off steam, but what lasting good will it do? Is the strike in the country's best interests?

It is unclear if the motives of today's action are directed by objective reason, fairness, balance and public-spiritedness, or whether they are essentially selfish.
Are we talking about abuses of power, either by the big unions on the one hand, or by the big bosses and the state on the other?

Are the protestors dutifully obeying union demands, displaying admirable togetherness in adversity, or acting out of fear of losing their livlihoods upon which the well-being of their families depend? Perhaps all three.

The right to strike is firmly respected in Portugal and this was reiterated the other day by Prime Minister Jósé Sócrates whose Government is now in the firing line.

The most unpopular man in the country today is Finance Minister Teixeira dos Santos. He has been dismissive of today's strike. “Trade unions have called it, they have a right to do so, but that won’t change the government’s mind about what needs to be done,” he said during a recent press conference.

“The country’s financing capacity is at stake” and that fiscal consolidation will be “harsh and demanding” but it needs to be done, otherwise “the nation’s situation will be much worse than people imagine,” said the finance minister.

Of course the whole thing comes down to money. The strike itself is going to cost the country many millions of euros in lost productivity. It remains to be seen whether it will be worth it.