The Madeira Budget and Investment Plan for 2024 was approved this Friday with 22 votes in favour of the PSD, CDS-PP and PAN, with three Chega MPs abstaining and 21 votes against from the PS, JPP and IL.
Absent from the plenary session of the Madeiran Parliament was Magna Costa, Chega’s fourth deputy, who did not participate in the final global vote on the documents.
The budget proposals amounting to 2.195 million euros and the Investment Plan (PIDDAR) with a budget of 877.9 million were the first presented by the PSD minority government and were previously discussed with the opposition parties as part of the preparation of the Executive Programme for the Legislature for 2024-2028.
At the end of the final global vote, regional Finance Minister Rogerio Gouveia said the 2024 budget is based on a “global vision for the region” and supports “the necessary policies” to make the collective future viable.
“At the same time, this agreement includes a huge number of measures proposed by the various parties that have seats in this Parliament, which must be fully implemented for the benefit of Madeira and the Madeirans,” he said.
“While the regional government is proposing and implementing measures that reflect socially just and financially correct actions, some opposition is entertaining demagogic proposals that can only be presented by parties that are not responsible for governance,” he added, specifically naming the PS and JPP.
Regarding the PSD, Bricio Araujo stressed that it is a “responsible budget with great impact” and “with concrete measures that will have an impact on the lives of Madeirans”.
Conversely, the parliamentary leader of the PS (the largest opposition party), Paulo Cafofo, believed that the budget “does not address the inequalities in Madeira” and that the region “will not save itself with this government.”
Kafofo lamented that the amendment proposals tabled by the Socialist benches were rejected despite his calls for “cutting costs and fat” in the functioning of the executive, in favour of lower taxes and higher revenues.
As for the JPP, MP Rafael Nunes said it was a “bad budget”, arguing that it “maintains the spending profile” and continues to “lack solutions” to the problems of Madeirans, taking “as much as possible from everyone to fulfill the objectives of half a dozen protégés”.
On the other hand, Chega parliamentary leader Miguel Castro committed to “constructively cooperating with the regional government” but warned that he would exercise “strict control” over the decisions taken to ensure that “they are the best” for the population.
Sara Madalena of the CDS-PP stressed that “Madeira cannot continue to live by the twelfth principle” and also noted that the party’s vote “honours the word given” in the agreement on parliamentary influence concluded with the PSD.
IL’s sole deputy, Nuno Morna, confirmed that the budget and PIDDAR support a “social, expenditure-based and socialist state” and contain “the seeds of dependency and loss of freedom.”
The only PAN MP to vote in favour, Mónica Freitas, stressed that the document includes several proposals in areas favoured by the party, such as social support, gender equality, animal welfare and environmental protection.
At the plenary session this Friday, before the final global vote, 26 proposals in this area were voted on, of which 10 were amendments submitted by parliamentary groups and 16 were amendments made by the regional government itself to the original text of the budget.
PS, JPP and IL presented proposals to apply the 30% tax differential to the continent in all IRS categories (personal income tax), which were ultimately rejected, thus supporting the Madeiran Government’s proposal, which only envisages an extension to the fifth tier.
As for VAT (value added tax), PS and IL submitted proposals to reduce VAT at all rates, but they were also rejected, retaining the reduction from 5% to 4% of the minimum rate proposed by the regional government.
The Parliament also rejected, in particular, the PS proposal, which provided for “guarantees from the regional government to credit organizations for the purpose of providing loans for their own and permanent housing to young people under 40 years of age,” with only one supporter voting in favor.
The regional parliament is made up of 19 members from the SDP, 11 from the PS, nine from the PPP, four from Čegi, two from the SDS-PP, one from the IL and one from the PAN.
The PSD signed a parliamentary agreement with the SDS-PP that was still not enough to achieve an absolute majority, but which kept centrist José Manuel Rodríguez as president of the Legislative Assembly.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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