Case Against the Jornal at the European Commission

On the 22^nd of April the Diário de Notícias launched a case at the European Commission’s Competition Directorate against the illegal state aid provided by the Regional Government of Madeira to finance the government-owned newspaper, Jornal da Madeira. It claims the state aid violates competition rules and allows for the Government to finance a newspaper, which is distributed for free, with the intent of causing financial difficulties to rival newspapers.

The Jornal had already been admonished by the Portuguese Competition Authority, the Press Regulation Entity and the Portuguese Parliament’s Commission of Ethics, Culture and Society to adopt measures to safeguard fair and just competition and the freedom of information of the press, all to no avail.

Former PS leader absolved in Jardim Libel Case

João Carlos Gouveia, the former leader of the local Socialist Party has been absolved of libel in a case brought against him by the President of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, Jardim. Gouveia had accused Jardim of ‘using illicit means and fomenting corruption with the single objective of winning elections’. Jardim, who regularly makes far worse accusations against whoever he pleases and hides behind his political immunity, alleged that this statement caused him anguish and that it perturbed his personal and political life. The judge found there was no illicit behavior on the part of the accused.

Jardim said he would contest the judgement. ‘As you know’, he said ‘there exists some tensions between certain agents of justice in the region and the regional power. This is undeniable and its not worth being hypocritical and trying to hide this’.

Cement Sales

The sales of cement in Madeira have fallen drastically from a peak of 774.595 tons in 2004 to 251.745 tons in 2010 – more or less the same level as 1991.

2004 was an election year. The Portuguese Government had approved a law of zero tolerance with regard to increasing public debt, but Jardim’s Government in Madeira sidestepped the law by creating a number of state companies which then borrowed approximately €500 million to finance public works, to be inaugurated in the run up to the elections.

Madeira’s cement is supplied by two companies: Cimentos Madeira is part-owned by the Regional Government, Cimentos Europa is owned by a consortium of four of the largest building companies and Jaime Ramos, Jardim’s right-hand man and parliamentary leader.

In 2004, AFA, one of the shareholders of Cimentos Europa was one of the construction companies with the biggest turnovers in the whole of Portugal, based almost exclusively on the public works it carried out in Madeira. AFA SGPS was part-owned by a London-based company called ‘Vasia Investments’ (Vasia means ‘empty’). This company was in turn owned by ‘Corner Consultants, Ltd’, based in the Virgin Islands. The shareholders of the latter company are unknown…

25th of April Revolution Party Venue scuppered

The Socialist Party had reserved a hall at the Madeira University facilities, known as the Tecnopolo, to hold a lunch commemoration of the 25th of April Revolution (which toppled the dictatorship). The venue, which was reserved one year ago is now no longer available and the Socialists have had to find a new one.

The date of the Revolution is never commemorated in the Regional Parliament (President Jardim was a staunch supporter of the dictatorship) and the request by the left wing parties to hold a formal session is once more set to be turned down by the PSD majority.

Communist Party & Election Law

The Communist Party has proposed an addition to the Election Law to put a stop to the continued violations of the law. The party seeks to add a new article (78A) to the current law. This article would stipulate that, once the date for an election is set, the holding of public functions, financed directly or indirectly by the regional government, would be prohibited. Members of the regional government would not be allowed to participate in inaugurations and presentations of new projects during this period. This would effectively stop Jardim's practice of using official ceremonies as party-political rallies.

Jardim's Party, the PSD, has in turn drafted a resolution to shut down the National Commission of Elections as well as the Press Regulation Entity (ERC).

‘Hitlerian Apetite for Power’: Elections Violations denounced 27 years ago

The violation of election laws in Madeira has been denounced many times over the past four decades, by all parties. The following is an example of what was published in the CDS Party newspaper in 1984.

“Madeira is a unique case in Portuguese democracy. The PSD majority in power shows no shame, not only in its excesses, but also in publicly assuming this scandal.

A case in point is the President of the Regional Government using inauguration ceremonies for electoral purposes, in the midst of the election campaign, not knowing how to distinguish, in his mad rush to power, his function as head the Madeiran Executive from his other condition as PSD election candidate, under the same circumstances and enjoying exactly the same rights as all the candidates from all other parties.

In these official events, religiously reported by the press on a daily basis, and revealed in all their extent by the TV cameras, Alberto João Jardim carried on his lapel the emblem of his own party, which shone with an intensity equal to those of his eyes, devoured by Hitlerian appetites for total dictatorship.

This gesture, unusual in democracy, reveals a total disrespect for the rules of democracy and for his political adversaries – who do not enjoy the same means to carry out propaganda, resulting in an inequality in the election process. This proves what the CDS has always maintained: there is an absence of civility, ethics and responsibility, in the politics of those in power in Madeira…”

In three decades, nothing has changed, no state entity has intervened in the name of the law and Jardim continues exactly as the CDS described him …    

Threats to take National Election Commission to Court

After his bluff that he would take the Election Law to the European Court the President of Madeira yesterday threatened to install criminal proceedings against the National Election Commission if it offends citizens’ rights and freedoms. Jardim seeks to condition the intervention of the Commission in order to allow him to turn official tax-payer-paid state events into party-political rallies, in violation of the election law –as he has done in the past 33 years that he has been in power. The President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva, remains silent on the matter.