The leader of the PSD/Açores, José Manuel Bolieiro, said this Friday that the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition government that he leads has made “profound changes” in the region, based on democratic humility, dialogue and consultation.
“We made a profound change. For the first time, a coalition government, unprecedented in the Azores. As many expected, they expected that it would not last more than a semester”, stated José Manuel Bolieiro.
The president of the PSD/Azores was speaking this evening in Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, at the opening session of the 26th Regional Congress of the PSD/Azores which will run until Sunday.
And he continued: “And the truth is that we demonstrated cohesion, loyalty, commitment, in the name of our democracy, our autonomy, our people.”
The opening of the congress took place four years after the day of the regional elections that elected the social democrat José Manuel Bolieiro for the first time as the leader of the Azorean government, which is why he recalled that on that day the Azoreans “gave an electoral opportunity to the PSD “.
“And we also have, in an unprecedented way, a variable geometry of parliamentary support, where it was possible to guarantee that, despite this variable parliamentary geometry, consensus for stability is reached, based on democratic humility, based on dialogue and concertation”, he declared the leader of the PSD/Açores.
And he concluded: “That’s how I am, that’s how we have been and that’s how we will continue to be.”
Bolieiro also referred to obstacles, such as the damage caused in the region by hurricane Lorenzo and depression Efrain.
He pointed out the “non-compliances of the Government of the Republic which, while still centralist, always seek for their dominance, to strangle the development of autonomy in various domains: political, legislative, financial, and the misunderstanding of territorial continuity, the archipelagic and Atlantic dimension of Portugal”.
“But, if necessary, and we did this, we will fight against these centralist versions of the Government of the Republic, demanding, within the framework of autonomy of accountability, the fulfillment of its obligations”, he warned.
In this regard, he recalled “the lack of timely payment for recovery work from the damage caused by Lorenzo, a hurricane that significantly destroyed infrastructure in the Azores and, later, the Efrain depression”.
“It was necessary to insist and persist, now with the new Government of the Republic, so that, not even a month ago, they could pay what they owed us”, he said.
In a long speech, Bolieiro also alluded to the territory’s potential and said that the sea is an opportunity for the region to lead and space “is a sea of opportunities for the Azores to have a confident future”.
He also spoke about achievements by the Regional Government and “emblematic measures that are structuring” for the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
He recalled the various measures applied by the executive he leads, such as the Azores Tariff, which allows inter-island travel for 60 euros (round trip) for residents, free daycare centers and Novos Idosos and Nascer + projects, among others.
The 26th. PSD/Açores Regional Congress runs until Sunday and will be attended by more than 250 congressmen, who will elect the party’s new regional bodies.
The social democratic congress takes place after Bolieiro was re-elected, in July, for a third term as party leader with 99.3% of the votes, in an election in which he was the only candidate.
José Manuel Bolieiro was elected leader of the Azorean social democrats for the first time in 2019, having been re-elected in 2022, after, in 2020, having reached the presidency of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM).
Source: rr.sapo.pt
