Euronews in Portuguese might not be cancelled thanks to Brussels

A continuation of a story from November on how Euronews in Portuguese is in danger of cancellation:

Representative Ribeiro e Castro acknowledged today the possibility of the European Commission supporting the broadcasts of Euronews in the Portuguese language, a scenario that he said would be "indispensable" and of high value to the country and the language.

"It would be a tragic retreat if Portugal were to withdraw from the project", said the representative of the CDS-PP to the Lusa news agency in Brussels, where he met about the issue with Viviane Reding, the Commissioner for Justice and Civil Rights.

Stressing that he left the Belgian capital "very excited" and "encouraged" with the words of the Commissioner, Ribeiro e Castro (also president of the Parliamentary Commission for Education) said that it is necessary to find "creative solutions" to confront the possible termination of broadcasts in Portuguese in Euronews.

RTP announced in January that it would not renew the contract with Euronews, which in May will end with the dismissal of 17 Portuguese journalists and the closing of the service in Portuguese in January 2013, if financing is not found.

The Portuguese language service is provided by 17 permanent Portuguese journalists and about 20 Portuguese freelancers. Portuguese is one of the eleven languages that Euronews broadcasts in, which has about 400 journalists from 23 nationalities.