PSD/Madeira leader Miguel Albuquerque said this Sunday that Prime Minister Luis Montenegro can count on the region, but for this the government must “serve the interests” of the archipelago, because “Madeira is not soft land.”
“I would like to give the current Prime Minister a big hug and wish him a speedy recovery. […]”knowing that Madeira is not a soft ground, but a fair ground where the PSD wins with a large majority in all elections,” he said.
Miguel Albuquerque spoke at the Herdade do Chão da Lagoa, located in the mountainous outskirts of Funchal, where the annual PSD/Madeira party is taking place today, the largest party event organised in the region, which Luís Montenegro missed for health reasons.
The party’s secretary general and parliamentary group leader Hugo Soares attended the party but did not speak.
“Here in Madeira we know that he [Luís Montenegro] “He can count on Madeira, but he also knows that in order to count on Madeira, the national government must serve the interests of our region,” said the regional leader of the PSD, who is also the president of the Madeira executive.
Albuquerque described the disagreements between the party’s regional and national structures regarding the European elections as a “failure in the conduct” due to the position taken by the candidate nominated by Madeira (ninth place), which motivated his vote against the list, but has now expressed his support for Luis Montenegro.
“I hope that the national PSD sees our region as a region that is a symbol of freedom, progress and the democratic consequences of social democracy,” he said, addressing several thousand people who were in Herdade do Chau in the lagoon.
The leader of the island’s Social Democrats also expressed hope that the summit between the regional and national governments planned for the summer will lead to the implementation of “fair and equitable plans for the people of Madeira and Porto Santo.”
“We want to improve our development, and for this it is important that the Regional Finance Act and regional autonomy are expanded,” he explained, and then stressed: “We need these instruments to improve economic growth, to improve the employment of our youth, to ensure investment so that we have a more developed, fairer and more inclusive land.”
Miguel Albuquerque, who has led the PSD/Madeira since 2014 and the regional executive since 2015, stressed the fact that the party continues to be a “leading force” in the region, despite the political crisis caused by the investigation process into alleged corruption cases in the archipelago, in which he was a defendant.
“Contrary to what some dreamed of – some messiahs thought that the SDP was going to hand over power or that it was easy to come here and take power by storm – the SDP continues to be the leading force in the region today,” he stressed, emphasizing that this year the party won three elections – national, early regional and European – and has already approved the government program for 2024-2028 and the regional budget for 2024.
“Madeira is, without a shadow of a doubt, the land of the future, and this future is being created by the government of our party and by the strength, militancy, persistence and determination of our fighters,” he said.
Despite being the first representative of a social democratic minority in the history of the autonomous region, Albuquerque stressed that the PSD maintains the “legacy of 48 years of victories” in the region.
“We know very well what we want here, and this is not a party of weak people. We are here to resist, to endure, to fight our external and internal opponents,” he warned, also calling for unity to prepare local authorities for 2025.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal

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