<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Portugal-France in the final of Euro 2016&colon; it was an unprecedented encounter&comma; that nobody&lpar;or almost nobody&rpar; expected&comma; that was played on Sunday at the Stade de France&period; And that was won by Portugal &lpar;1-0&rpar;&period; Two countries which have enjoyed close relations for decades&comma; and which have grown even stronger recently&period; Focus on a Portuguese economy which is rising from the ashes after coming close to the worst during the debt crisis&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<h6 class="p1"><span class="s2"><b>1&comma;5 million Portuguese in France </b></span></h6>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Some of them have dual nationality&period; Sunday's final had the flavour of a derby, as the Portuguese community has been established in France for generations&period; Nearly half live in the Ile-de-France region&comma; particularly in Essonne&comma; Val-de-Marne and Seine-Saint-Denis&period; A very large community also lives in Auvergne&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<h6 class="p1"><span class="s2"><b>French expatriates flock to Portugal </b></span></h6>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Over the past three years&comma; more than 25&period;000 French&lpar;mostly retired&rpar; have made Portugal their home&comma; attracted by the country's relaxed lifestyle&comma; real estate 20 to 30&percnt; cheaper than in France... but also the golden bridges set up by the local authorities&period; Provided they live in the country for at least six months a year &&num;8211&semi; and have not been a tax resident for the last 5 years -&comma; European citizens can be exempted for 10 years from paying tax on their income from abroad&period; Certain professions working in the country &lpar;architects&comma; designers&comma; lawyers&comma; senior executives...can&comma; under the same rules&comma; benefit from a tax rate of 20&percnt; on general income received in Portugal &excl; Non-EU investors are also pampered to the hilt &colon; a "Golden Visa" allows them total freedom of mobility in the Schengen zone as long as they commit to investing 500&period;000 euros in Portuguese real estate&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<h6 class="p1"><span class="s2"><b>Tourism booms... especially in France </b></span></h6>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><span class="s1">According to the Portuguese authorities&comma; more than a million French&lpar;out of a total of 10 million tourists&rpar; visited the country last year&period; A craze that is set to continue&colon; this summer&comma; the French tour operators' union &lpar;Seto&rpar; is forecasting a 40-percent boom in bookings &lpar;flight &plus; accommodation&rpar; by the French compared with last July-August&period; It has to be said that, with 480 flights a week linking France to Portugal&comma; many of them low-cost&comma; the destination is within easy reach&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<h6 class="p1"><span class="s2"><b>Lisbon&comma; the new Barcelona</b></span></h6>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The first city to benefit from the boom in expats and tourism&comma; Portugal's capital is on a roll&period; And all the more so as it is also sporting a new face&period; Once totally dilapidated&comma; its historic center is currently undergoing major renovation&period; A law&comma; that had frozen rents for decades &&num;8211&semi; forcing landlords to abandon the upkeep of their buildings - has just been lifted&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In agreement with the municipality, local developers such as Stone &&&num;8211&semi; in association with marketer Athena Advisers &&&num;8211&semi; are today working to rehabilitate entire sections of the city&period; This is also helping to drive up prices &colon; expect to pay an average of 3&&period;500 euros per m2 for old, unrehabilitated property, and between 4&&period;500 and 7500 euros for renovated old buildings, depending on the district&period; Symbol of this effervescence&colon; the city is attracting more and more investors for seasonal rentals&period; Last year&comma; 433&period;000 people rented via Airbnb in Lisbon, compared with 213&period;000 the previous year&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<h6 class="p1"><span class="s2"><b>The pastéis de nata&comma; a successful traditional dessert </b></span></h6>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><span class="s1">It's the traditional Portuguese dessert&period; Invented in a patisserie in Belem, a district to the west of Lisbon&rpar; &&num;8211&semi; where hundreds of tourists throng every day &&num;8211&semi; the famous crème brûlée tartlet has been made to a secret recipe since the 19th century&period; That hasn't stopped imitations from springing up all over the country&period; Around the world and in France&comma; several brands - including the Nata Lisboa franchise&comma; based in Paris &&num;8211&semi; market the famous tart&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<h6 class="p1"><span class="s2"><b>The champion of corks</b></span></h6>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Portugal accounts for almost half of the world's cork production&comma; estimated at 201&period;000 tonnes a year by Apcor&comma; the Portuguese association representing the sector&period; 34&percnt; of the cork oak forests&comma; whose bark provides the raw material&comma; are located in this country&period; 70&percnt; of production is destined for the&rsquo&semi;wine industry&comma; in particular for bottle stoppers&period; In total&comma; 40 million cork stoppers are produced every day by the 650 Portuguese companies specializing in this field&comma; employing some 9&period;000 people&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<h6 class="p1"><span class="s2"><b>Cristiano Ronaldo&comma; almost indestructible world star</b></span></h6>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><span class="s1">137&comma;8 million&colon; the estimated transfer value of Cristiano Ronaldo&comma; the Real Madrid striker and captain of the Portuguese national team&comma; by the International Center for Sports Studies&period; In total&comma; the value of the&rsquo&semi;Portuguese team is estimated at 449&comma;9 million&semi;euros&comma; which puts them in 6th place at the&rsquo&semi;Euro 2016 while France is 2nd with 696&comma;9 million &lpar;Antoine Griezmann being the highest-rated player at 120&comma;2 million&rpar;&period; Cristiano Ronaldo is also the second-highest-paid footballer on the planet behind Lionel Messi &lpar;67&comma;4 million&rsquo&semi;euros gross per annum, including sponsors, according to France Football&rpar;&comma; well ahead of Les Bleus' first-choice for the Euro&lpar;PSG midfielder Blaise Matuidi at 11 million&semi;euros, according to L&rsquo&semi;Equipe&rpar;&period;</span></p>&NewLine;<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.capital.fr/a-la-une/politique-economique/ce-que-nous-ne-savez-peut-etre-pas-sur-le-portugal-ce-pays-qui-a-la-cote-aupres-des-francais-1146112" target="_blank">Source</a></p>&NewLine;
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