Tips and Topics In Portugal
Factfile
March 2008 Mediterranean building ban
Environment ministers of 14 countries have agreed in principle to ban the construction of commercial and residential developments within 100 metres of the Mediterranean coastline. The new Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) was ratified in Almería by the ministers.
The convention has agreed that along the 29,000 mile shoreline of the Mediterranean that no construction would be permitted within 100 metres of the coast in an effort to help protect the coastline from the damage caused by development and human contact.
Christina Narbona Spain’s minister for the environment and José Fernández Pérez, Spain’s environment ministry Director of coastal areas told a press conference that Albania, Algeria, Croatia, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Syria and Tunisia have all ratified the Barcelona Convention and that Bosnia, Cyprus, Egypt Lebanon, Libya and Turkey have not at this stage, however they are believed to be signing the agreement later in 2008.
November 2007 Further expansion for Easyjet as they agree to acquire GB Airways Limited
easyJet has announced that it has agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of GB Airways Ltd excluding its slots at Heathrow Airport, from the Bland Group Limited, for a cash consideration of £103.5 million.
GB Airways is primarily a London Gatwick based point-to-point airline operating to destinations across Southern Europe and North Africa under a franchise agreement with British Airways PLC. It serves 31 destinations and operates 15 Airbus aircraft (9 A320s and 6 A321s) with an average age of 4.1 years, which are complementary to the easyJet fleet of 107 A319s. In total it operates 39 routes – 28 from Gatwick, 6 from Manchester, 5 from Heathrow.
Following the acquisition, easyJet will operate 24% of Gatwick’s slots and will fly approximately 8 million passengers across 62 routes from Gatwick. By Winter 2008/09, GB Airways will be fully consolidated into the easyJet business model. GB Airways will continue to operate all routes under the British Airways brand until March 29th, 2008 after which flights will operate under the easyJet brand.
December 2006 1bn euro Mortgage arrears in Portugal
In Portugal divorce and unemployment levels are forcing many people to put their homes up for sale and the owners cannot afford their mortgage repayments. According to the Bank of Portugal there were up to 1bn of mortgage arrears in some months in 2006. With the news of this the Journal de Noticias — a Portuguese daily newspaper reports that with many homeowners financially stretched investors can now buy a three bedroom property in Lisbon for as little as €60,000.
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FURTHER READING See also
It Certainly Does Rain in Lisbon (Lisboa) Portugal in February CLICK HERE
Buy to Let Europe CLICK HERE
Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) CLICK HERE
Accepting Payments in Euros can prove Expensive CLICK HERE
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