PS/Açores announced this Thursday that it will abstain from voting on the 2024 plan and budget to ensure that the regional government has “all the necessary means” to facilitate the recovery of the Hospital Divino Espirito Santo (HDES).
“The EC will abstain from voting on the 2024 Plan and Budget, thereby ensuring that the Regional Government now has all the necessary means to carry out repairs for the damage caused to the HDES infrastructure and eliminate the limitations on its performance,” said MP Andrea Cardoso.
The vice-president of the parliamentary group PS/Açores made the final speech at the debate on the regional plan and budget, which takes place in the Legislative Assembly in Horta.
Andrea Cardoso stressed that the party will vote on the proposed changes to the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM and will adopt the Plan and Budget, as well as the Medium-Term Guidelines, which aim to allocate funds for the reconstruction of the hospital damaged by the fire on May 4th.
“The PS knows what space it occupies, and it is in this space that it acts responsibly and vigilantly, always assuming that it will be on the side of solutions and not on the side of problems, but never refusing to highlight differences,” he emphasized.
And he added: “The PS ensures that the regional government has a budgetary framework for revenues and expenditures that it itself considers necessary and appropriate for the purpose of compensating for the damage caused by the fire at the HDES.”
Despite the vote of the largest opposition party, the MP highlights “reservations” regarding the Plan and Budget, which are “continuity proposals that have changed little or nothing from what was presented in November 2023.”
“The only really new data is, of course, the May 4 fire,” he insisted.
Andrea Cardoso accused the Azores government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) of presenting a budget that “exacerbates the fragility of public accounts” and “ignores demographic problems.”
The PS also criticizes the Azores executive for “silencing worsening poverty and social inequality” and “underestimating housing overcrowding and difficulties in accessing decent housing.”
The MP warned of rising public debt and a “record €195 million” of debt to suppliers at the island’s hospitals and healthcare facilities in 2023.
“The government is taking a reckless and irresponsible approach by placing the burden of its own budgetary excesses on the companies that supply the regional government.”
Andrea Cardoso also focused on social policy, highlighting the increase in homelessness and the lack of action in the strategy presented by the executive in the field of education.
“What credibility does a government have that last September committed with its partners through the Partnership Agreement to achieve a 15 per cent early school completion rate in 2028, and then, half a dozen months later, defer that commitment for two years?” he asked. .
The parliamentarian also emphasized that the current government of the region is “politically more fragile and unstable” than the previous one, since the majority of parties did not vote for the Government Program.
“The government has put itself in a position of superiority and even arrogance in relation to parliament. The government does not engage in dialogue with political parties. It is the political parties that should ask for dialogue with the government,” he noted.
The budget proposal includes an amount of 2,045.5 million euros, similar to that presented in October 2023 (2,036.7 million).
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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