An Algarve member of parliament in Passos Coelho's PSD, Cristóvão Norte, claims that the government simply has given up on boosting employment in the region.

Norte says that regional funds made available to the Institute do Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP) have been reduced and that 2,000 applications by companies to take on workers under IEFP schemes are sitting in a bottom draw waiting to be approved.

The legal appeal of the captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia has begun in Italy.

Francesco Schettino claims that he has been made the solitary scapegoat for the disaster which took 32 lives in 2012 when the cruise ship struck underwater rocks off Tuscany.

Portugal’s Tax Authority has admitted that there is little its staff can do to those caught with offshore accounts that were revealed in the Swissleaks case.

More than 600 names of account holders that had direct links to Portugal were uncovered and published by the International Consortium of Journalists but under Portuguese laws, any prosecution or tax demand is not possible due to the amount of time that has passed.

Germany is pressing ahead with its plan to charge foreign drivers who use the country’s autobahn network, but the European Commission is challenging the decision.

The toll was agreed last year by the German parliament. The charge would apply to both foreign and domestic users up to €130 a year, but German residents would get it back through a rebate on their car insurance.

Turkey’s attempts to gain visa-free travel in the EU for its citizens have suffered a setback as a brawl in the Turkish parliament has postponed much preparation work.

Fighting broke out between the ruling party and pro-Kurdish MPs on Wednesday which resulted in parliament being suspended until Monday.

The High Court challenge brought by Harry Shindler, a 94-year-old WWII veteran living in Italy and lawyer Jacquelyn MacLennan resident in Belgium, has failed to sway judges that those Britons living outside the UK for 15 years or more should have the right to participate in the June Referendum.

The two expats argued through their laywers they illegally were being denied the chance to vote because they had lived in other European countries for more than 15 years.

A UK exit from the EU would immediately hit confidence and raise uncertainty which would result in GDP being 3% lower by 2020, which equates to GBP 2200 per household. An OECD report released this morning states that such costs are already piling up.

The projected hit to living standards would amount in effect to a permanent ‘Brexit tax’ on households, the OECD says.

Presenting the analysis in a speech at the London School of Economics, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said, “Leaving Europe would impose a Brexit tax on generations to come. Instead of funding public services, this tax would be a pure deadweight loss, with no economic benefit.”

The victim, identified only as Maria D., was 43-years-old and had lived in Germany for “a few years” but without a permanent home.

The authorities say the murder is a crime of extreme violence as Maria D. had been dismembered.