According to the latest news, the Portuguese region of Madeira has just refused a bill intended to get Funchal (the capital city of Madeira) onto the World Heritage list established by Unesco.
The candidacy was proposed by the Communist party, with the support of all the parties of the regional legislative Assembly, apart from the Social-democrat party. The proposition was rejected by the Social-democrat party, which governs Madeira with an absolute majority.
Founded in 1508, Funchal is celebrating its 500th anniversary this year. There is surprising suspicion towards Unesco, which leads to quite a lot of speculation – a world heritage town has to respect very strict conservation rules and while many welcome this, some are less enthusiastic