José Manuel Bolieiro meets with political parties to prepare Azores' contributions to RTRP - Communication

Presidência do Governo Regional

The President of the Azores Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, began a series of hearings today at the Sant'Ana Palace with the political parties represented in the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP).

The initiative aims to collect contributions and assess regional priorities for this new national financial mechanism created by the National Government, following the recent natural disasters that affected several regions of the country.

The head of the Azorean Government highlighted the importance of this moment of political dialogue, emphasising the parties' willingness to define the Region's priorities.

"I would like to positively highlight this moment of dialogue and analysis with political parties, which have shown a favourable contribution and a constructive spirit in their reflection on the RTRP," he said.

According to José Manuel Bolieiro, these audiences followed the National Government's announcement of the programme and the agreement reached to cover the entire national territory, including the autonomous regions.

"This financial tool was created in the wake of catastrophes that severely affected portions of Mainland Portugal; however, due to political and strategic vision, it now covers the entire country, promoting not only recovery but also transformation and resilience projects," he explained.

The President of the Azorean Government stressed that these audiences aim to build a solid and consensual regional position on the projects to be presented by the Azores.

"We believe that we should listen to the political parties to consolidate an understanding of what the Azores' perspective should be in this process," he said.

José Manuel Bolieiro also explained that, unlike the model followed in the European Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), the RTRP does not start from a predefined financial envelope.

"The National Government is first listening to the different national actors to identify projects that have reached a certain maturity level and fall within the three pillars: recovery, resilience and transformation, and only then will the financial envelope be defined," he said.

In this context, the Government of the Azores intends to present projects sufficiently mature to be included in this new programme, with particular focus on resilience and transformation areas.

Among the priorities identified by the Regional Government is investment in transport infrastructure, particularly road infrastructure, which currently has no alternative sources of funding within the EU framework.

"We have noted broad consensus on the need to invest in infrastructures that are not covered by EU funds, namely transport infrastructure and, in particular, road infrastructure," he said.

In addition to this area, the Regional Government intends to include projects related to the water cycle, as well as investments in port and airport infrastructures.

Another aspect highlighted in these audiences concerns the programme's governance model. According to José Manuel Bolieiro, although it is a national tool, its management must ensure effectiveness and consider the specific characteristics of regions.

"Although it is a national tool, it cannot become ineffective due to excessive centralism. It must ensure flexible governance and consider regional specificities," he said.

Representatives from the Liberal Initiative, PAN, CHEGA and PPM parties were heard at today's audience.

The consultation process will continue next Friday with meetings with the PSD, CDS-PP, BE and PS parties, thus concluding the cycle of meetings with all the political forces representing the Azorean Parliament.