Portugal

LISBON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday called for European COVID-19 recovery funds to be made available to the European Union (EU) member states "as soon as possible."

"We spent several nights awake in July, the (European) Council lasted five days, and it was a great European success, a great step forward for the EU to guarantee loans and grants to the states in need," Mitsotakis was quoted by the Portuguese Lusa News Agency as saying.

LISBON, Jan 6 (NNN-XINHUA) – Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, met here yesterday, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, marking the beginning of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union.

This is Portugal’s fourth presidency of the Council. Germany handed over the six-month rotating presidency to Portugal, at the start of the year.

Costa said, at a press conference, this is an enormous honour and that it will be “six months of intense work.”

LISBON/MADRID (Reuters) - In October, Michelle Jones and her husband Gary boarded a ferry in England for a new life in Spain. Had they left it beyond Britain’s period of transition out of the European Union, things would have been much more complicated.

“We haven’t got a choice - it’s now or never,” the former housing association worker said at the hairdressing salon she has taken over in the resort town of Fuengirola in southern Spain.

LISBON, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were injured, one in serious condition, in an explosion following a fire on Sunday at a building in central Lisbon.

Potential victims buried in the rubble are still being sought, civil protection authorities in the Portuguese capital said. 

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa will self-isolate for 14 days, spending Christmas at his official residence, after meeting earlier this week with French President Emmanuel Macron, who is infected with coronavirus.

Lisbon’s regional health authority ARSLVT said in a statement cited by Lusa news agency that a working lunch between the two leaders on Wednesday was considered a “high-risk exposure” to the coronavirus.

LISBON, Nov 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Portugal extended until Dec 8 the state of emergency it imposed to bring down the coronavirus infection rate as the second wave of the disease spreads.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced he had signed the decree extending the emergency measures which had been due to lapse on Monday, warning that a further extension remains a possibility.

“The state of emergency will last as long as is necessary to fight against the pandemic” he said in a televised address.

LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa asked the country’s president on Monday to declare a state of emergency as a preventive measure to fight the spread of coronavirus at a time when infections are soaring.

The last COVID-19 state of emergency, which under Portuguese law is limited to 15 days but can be extended indefinitely in 15-day periods if necessary, was declared by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in March and lasted six weeks.

LISBON (Reuters) - A divided world has failed to rise to the challenge of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday and warned concerted action was needed to prevent millions of people being pushed into poverty and hunger.

The former Portuguese prime minister said far more could have been done if countries had worked together to combat the disease, which has killed more than one million people.

LISBON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said Saturday that the highest priority of his government at the moment is "to recover the economy" of Portugal, but it will be "a long way."

"If in the emergency phase it's essential to control the pandemic without killing the economy, now we have to recover the economy without letting the pandemic go out of control," he said in his opening speech at an event of the ruling Socialist Party (PS).

LISBON, June 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Portugal’s government has tightened the lockdown in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in an effort to bring a series of coronavirus outbreaks under control.

From today the limit on outdoor gatherings is back down to 10, from the national maximum of 20.

All shops must close by 20:00 and restaurants may not serve alcohol after that hour, while drinking in all other public places is banned.

The measures were approved at an online cabinet meeting last night, after a meeting between the Prime Minister António Costa and Lisbon area mayors.