An increasingly out-of-touch European Commission has reported that Portugal’s VAT evasion rate is a mere 9%.
The european average is reported to be around 14%, according to data from the Commission leaving Portugal as a shining example of tax collection efficiency.
Wary of adverse local feelings from locals in one of the poorest council areas of the Algarve, Olhão’s mayor António Pina said today that the council considers it "fair and logical" to offer space and help to refugees coming to the country as long as there is "a medium-term plan designed to give real help in accommodation, monitoring and integration, and a time limit."
In an open letter to locals, Pina says the council expresses "solidarity" with the "sad and humiliating situation of the refugees," but that first and foremost on his agenda is to look after the poor and dispossessed in his council area.
The technology for driverless vehicles has been evolving rapidly, but a new report warns that the threat of cyber attacks will hamper their use.
Concerns over hacking were one of the major technical challenges, according to the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group which researched obstacles to driverless cars.
The chief executive of Vilamoura World, a project owned by the US venture capital company Lone Star Fund, today announced a development plan centred on the commercialisation of 18 linked projects which need a cool billion euros to be achieved.
According to Paul Taylor, the Chief Executive of the managing company, it's all about building turnkey projects including housing, leisure, tourism and retail over a 400 hectare area in the next five to seven years.
The eurozone economy grew at a faster rate than initially thought in the first half of this year.
The data from Eurostat shows that France remains stuck in stagnation and lags behind the rest of the euro region.
Quieter times have been reported from the Spanish enclave of Melilla, now heavily fortified against migrants seeking to enter EU territory.
It has been four months since anyone has managed to get past the strengthened barriers.
Today’s demonstrations by taxi drivers protesting against web-based transport service Uber ended in violent clashes in Lisbon as nationally 3,000 drivers mounted slow drives through the capital as well as through Faro and Oporto.
In Faro more than hundred and fifty taxi drivers assembled at the Algarve Stadium to start their slow drive at 09:00 to the airport and then on to the regional capital, ending up at 11:30 at the Largo de São Francisco.
The latest plan from the European Commission shows Portugal’s refugee total intake increasing to 4,775 as the figures are reworked due to rapidly increasing numbers and the inability of Greece and Italy to cope with boatloads of refugees arriving each day from north Africa.
Germany, France and Spain will receive the lion’s share of the 160,000 that member states are to accommodate, according to the latest proposal from the European Commission.
