Category Archives: Portugal News

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Young Portuguese and Spanish professionals are beginning to cast their dreams overseas and/or on online jobs or virtual offices. Some of them are fresh out of school, some just about to graduate, and others have years of experience to their name. But the one thing they have in common is an increasing lack of confidence in their own country. Portugal has been in dire economic straits for the last two years, and employment was just one of many sectors that felt the pinch. Its acceptance of the euro-zone and International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout earlier this year was seen by many as the last straw. A similar ...

Less than two weeks in the seat as Portugal’s new prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho promised to turn things around for his debt-ridden country, starting with a stable coalition government alongside the smaller conservative party, Centro Democrático e Social (CDS). Passos Coelho, who succeeds José Sócrates, signed a political accord on June 16th with CDS leader Paulo Portas. In a press conference that followed, he said the step marked “a new cycle” in Portugal’s recovery, with a new majority government that he expects to remain on its feet over the next four years. He also promised to regain trust in Portugal and its financial markets, and encourage investments in the country as ...

The Finnish Parliament approved the bailout terms for Portugal last week, knocking down one of the last big hurdles to international aid for the debt-ridden country. The plan will now be forwarded to the euro-zone’s finance ministers, who are expected to approve it in the next few days. The Parliament backed the bailout after a 15-5 favorable vote. Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish Finance Minister, announced the country’s approval in a meeting with fellow finance ministers in Brussels earlier this week. At the said meeting, officials will discuss the details of the Portugal bailout. Each country represented is expected to forward its own proposals and conditions, which have to be okayed before the ...

The political group True Finns, once strongly opposed to the euro-zone bailouts, said in a conference Saturday that aid to Portugal could benefit their native Finland, one of the strongest signs that their opposition may still mellow down. The party rose to prominence in Finnish elections last month, raising fears that a new government could step in and block the bailout plans. Bailout talks began in Lisbon in mid-April. In an interview with YLE, a Finnish broadcast station, the True Finns leader Timo Soini said the Portugal bailout could even be the best option for Finland. However, he added, the country’s autonomy remains their main thrust. Previously little-known in Finland, the True Finns ...

Europe’s financial leaders and leading policymakers refused to give comments yesterday as they headed for the finance ministry in Lisbon’s Commerce Square—a building rife with traces of Portugal’s historical importance. IMF representative Dane Poul Thomsen, who earlier led bailout talks in Greece, is meeting with officials from the European Central Bank and the European Commission today to discuss Portugal’s bailout plan, which is estimated at around €80 billion. Negotiations are already off to a shaky start. The bailout entered a critical phase yesterday when a Finnish anti-euro party, the True Finns, managed to gain strongly in elections, putting the latter closer to its goal of sabotaging help from the euro-zone and ...

Amid speculations of a euro-zone bailout and the recent resignation of Prime Minister José Sócrates, Portugal is busy exploring alternative solutions to its fiscal woes. And the solution may lie not in its neighbors, but in its former colonies scattered around the world. Brazil, a former Portuguese colony and now a growing economic force, is offering the to help the country pay off debts approaching €10 billion, which must be settled between April and June. On a recent official visit, President Dilma Rousseff said that Brazil could help Portugal, just as the latter helped her country economically in the past. Her predecessor, the hugely popular Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, echoed ...

Young Portuguese and Spanish professionals are beginning to cast their dreams overseas and/or on online jobs or virtual offices. Some of them are fresh out of school, some just about to graduate, and others have years of experience to their … Continue reading →