Marta Pacheco studied Political Science and Media & Journalism at the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP). An independent researcher based in Brussels, she has been active in reporting EU and international affairs as a journalist contributor for media outlets in Brussels. Former Blue Book trainee in the European Commission and with a keen interest on politics and global affairs, Marta has been developing her skills and knowledge in the healthcare field, energy & environment and in the financial crisis.
After the back and forth with Brussels, a positive credit rating helped Portugal overcome its state of budgetary limbo, yet Lisbon was “verbally downgraded” by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.
The former Portuguese PM and European Commission President, José Manuel Durão Barroso, emerges as an accomplice of the great atrocities of the war in Iraq and its lingering consequences.
Germany’s biggest bank hits the headlines after being asked to pay a €14 billion fine to the US Department of Justice. The markets are said to be nervous.
As expected, the shaky Portuguese right-wing government led by a centre-right coalition fell, toppled by a left-wing alliance. Considered by many as a milestone, the collapse of the Portugal à Frente coalition paved the way for a left-led government headed by the alliance formed by the Socialist Party (PS), the Left Bloc and the Communist Party together with the Greens.
The hideous and deplorable attacks in Paris on November 13th have unleashed a wave of fear throughout Europe triggering the lockdown of the Belgian capital Brussels. The clocks were pointing at 1am on Friday 20th, when the Belgian government decided to raise the terror alert to its maximum, 4 out of 4, due to a “serious and imminent” threat similar to the tragic events in Paris claimed by the Islamic State, “with multiples attacks in different places,” said the Belgian prime minister Charles Michel.
The European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety has rejected a proposal by the Commission which gives Member States the power to restrict or prohibit imported genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), and asked the Commission to drop the plan altogether. For the time being, the plan already enjoys the support of fourteen nations which have rejected GMOs…
As a reaction to the austerity imposed on Portugal, a new political movement gave birth to a new political party, the poppy-branded LIVRE. Founded in March 2014 by former Left Bloc MEP Rui Tavares, LIVRE has already participated in the last European Parliament elections (May 2014), albeit unsuccessfully, registering only 2,18% of the votes. Anti-austerity and pro-European, this leftist party is politically and ideologically in line with the Spanish Podemos and the Greek Syriza.
