Miguel Albuquerque criticizes PS and JPP’s irresponsibility in refusing dialogue

The President of the Madeiran Government, Miguel Albuquerque, on Saturday accused the PS and the JPP of “total irresponsibility” for refusing to engage in dialogue to agree on a government programme for the region.

“I would like to highlight the fact that Chegi, unlike the PS and the JPP, who took a position of complete irresponsibility, those who talked so much about dialogue that an absolute majority was harmful (…), when the result of the elections transforms the political situation into a framework that requires dialogue, they are the first to refuse dialogue, not even sitting down with the winning side to discuss a series of proposals of public interest,” said the head of the Madeiran executive.

Miguel Albuquerque spoke to journalists as part of his visit to the Ponta do Pargo golf course in the municipality of Calheta, which represents an investment of 12ME, a space that, in his words, “makes the western zone a pole of great attraction” and he will “one of the most attractive in Europe” because it is located next to the rock and “will bring thousands and thousands of practitioners to Madeira.”

Asked about the meetings that are still taking place between the regional government and Chega to agree on the government programme, as the party insists on the removal of Miguel Albuquerque from office, the Madeiran ruler stressed that they are “focused on solving this problem”.

“I must emphasize that both CDS and IL and PAN and Chega took the position of democratic responsibility, democratic humility, sat down at the negotiating table and talked about a program of public interest,” he said.

On Monday, the regional government, represented by the ministers of education (Jorge Carvalho) and finance (Rogerio Gouveia), as well as the chief of staff of the island’s executive president, Rui Abreu, held meetings with PAN deputies. IL, CDS-PP and Chega to agree on government program measures.

The other parties with seats in parliament, the PS and the JPP, rejected the invitation to negotiate the approval of this document, which also makes a regional budget impossible, forcing the region to be governed under a twelfth-part regime.

This round comes after the president of the regional executive decided last week to withdraw the proposal for a government program that was discussed two days ago in the Madeira Legislative Assembly, as it was announced after a round of meetings with different parties failed.

PS, JPP and Chega, which together have 24 MPs out of the 47 members that make up the Madeiran Parliament (meaning an absolute majority), said they would vote against the motion the following day.

After the meetings, the single deputies of PAN and IL concluded the negotiations by agreeing on the measures to be integrated.

Liberal Nuno Morna announced he would abstain, while People-Animals-Nature MP Monica Freitas said she would make the program viable depending on the vote on the motion.

SDS-PP, which has two deputies, signed an agreement on parliamentary protection with the SDP after the elections.

Today, Miguel Albuquerque said that “the problem is simple” and it is necessary to “understand the will of the people of Madeira and Porto Santo.”

According to the regional leader, “people want to see their lives resolved, they want a State Program, they want a budget, because they know, and, well, because they have folk wisdom, that the worst that can happen is that we end up in a political deadlock, which has consequences for the economy, for the income and employment of citizens.”

Regarding the fact that he was not present at the negotiations, he stated that “everything is going according to plan.”

In the early regional elections on 26 May, the SDP elected 19 MPs, giving it five terms to achieve an absolute majority (which requires 24), the PS got 11, the AKP got nine, Čega got four and the SDS-NP got two, while the IL and PAN each elected one MP.