CDS Madeira refuses to be a “reed” or a “continuation” of PSD

The CDS-PP/Madeira goes to the early regional elections with its own list, prepared for mutual understanding and refusing to be a “cane” or “continuation” of the PSD, according to the head of the list of the party structure, José Manuel Rodrigues.

“SDS is not focused on coalitions. Even on the SDP,” the candidate said in an interview with the Lusa agency following the results of the second legislative assembly, in which both parties were together in the regional government (in 2019, when the Social Democrats lost their absolute majority, formed a post-election coalition and ran for office in 2023 together).

José Manuel de Souza Rodrigues, a journalist by profession, has served as President of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira since October 15, 2019.

“Just two months ago, the PSD of Miguel Albuquerque realized that the PSD does not need the coalition and therefore, from this point of view, we must accept the necessary consequences, especially because we were loyal to the PSD and the PSD do not respect the CDS,” explained He.

The head of the Christian Democrats list, who was president of the SDS-PP/Madeira between 1997 and 2015 and returned to leadership in April, believes that “nothing will be the same in the relationship between the SDS and the PSD.”

“SDS is not the stick of the SDP, which the SDP uses when it sees fit. SDS is the founding party of democracy and autonomy and must be respected. We are also not a continuation of the SDP,” he said.

Rodrigues, who has been a member of the SDS-PP since 1976 and leader of the Centrist Youth of Madeira party, said on the other hand that he is “ready for parliamentary agreements with all political forces that are not extremist, be they left or true.”

In his opinion, “the absolute majority of one party is a thing of the past,” and to solve the problem of governability it is necessary to “conduct negotiations between all political parties.”

Born on July 13, 1960 (he is 63 years old) in the parish of Santa Maria Mayor in the municipality of Funchal, where he lives, he emphasized that he has “been involved in politics for 30 years” and has never set limits on electoral campaigns. operates to ensure that “the CDS will always be part of the solution and contribute to political stability and governability.”

The candidate, who was also the municipal deputy of Funchal, stressed that in the May 26 elections he “will not ask Madeirans which party they belong to if they vote for the CDS.”

“I just want to know if they want to go with CDS and where they want to go with CDS. And I will know how to interpret on election night, whatever the sovereign will of the Madeirans conveyed on that day,” he strengthened.

The purpose of the elections, he added, “is to achieve the best possible result and contribute to a government solution that will solve some of Madeira’s structural problems.”

Referring to the party’s main proposals, he identified expansion of autonomy and reform of the regional political system as priorities, considering that “autonomy has reached a dead end.”

“We need to have more powers and competencies in a number of areas, but especially in the legislative branch. And also to create our own tax system,” he emphasized.

Until this target is achieved, while the regional government has recorded tax revenues rising “to previously unseen levels”, it is advocating a VAT (value added tax) cut of 7.5% per year, to be achieved at the end of the year . to the legislative body a reduction of 30%, provided for by the Law on Regional Finance.

According to José Manuel Rodrigues, a former high school graduate (equivalent to 12th grade), Madeira’s economic growth in recent years “has not been accompanied by greater social justice”, which is why he proposes “a great agreement on income and productivity within the framework of the Social Coordination Council for the Increase wages” on the archipelago.

Another of the recommended measures aims to establish a base for young graduates in the region to reverse the tide of emigration by setting a basic salary when entering the labor market.

The CDS-PP has always been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira.

In the last regional elections, on 24 September 2023, the SDS/CDU-PP Somos Madeira coalition won 58,394 votes (44.31%) and elected 23 out of 47 MPs, three of whom were Christian Democrats. The CDS also guaranteed two portfolios in the executive branch – economics and fisheries.

Regional government chairman Miguel Albuquerque, now back at the top of the list, resigned in January after being named as a defendant in a lawsuit over alleged corruption. The executive director has been in control ever since.

After the resignation, SDS/Madeira advocated the immediate departure of the Social Democrat and the appointment of his replacement by the PSD.