Speech delivered by the President of the Government - Communication

Presidência do Governo Regional

Full text of the speech delivered today by the President of the Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, in Horta, during the discussion of the Plan and Budget for 2024:

This plenary session of the Parliament of the Azores, which is now beginning, is for the discussion and vote on the proposals presented by the Government of the Azores regarding the Plan and Budget for 2024.

These provisional documents concern the last year of the current term, which ends exactly in 2024. We believe this budget proposal is good for the Azores.

It is good for the Azoreans, for every person, for our families, for our companies, for our institutions in general, namely Private Social Solidarity Institutions (IPSS), Santas Casas da Misericórdia (charities), for cooperatives and for local authorities - municipalities and parishes.

The budget proposal is both predictable and sustainable.

It complies with the Programme of the Government. It complies with the Medium-Term Guidelines. These are essential documents for this term, which were approved by the Parliament.

Nevertheless, this 2024 Budget is better than its predecessors. And it is better because it already benefits from the results of the regional public policies that we have pursued and implemented.

They deserve and require consistency and sustainability. This can only be achieved with continuity and evolution, so as to enhance the social cohesion and economic progress of the Azores.

Here we are, in the Azores, far from the perverse and destructive wars in Europe, the Middle East and the world, without the social and professional instability experienced in Mainland Portugal, but still inexorably affected by their consequences, living through crises that generate poverty and great uncertainty, whether global or national, financial, economic, social and political.

As I have already said, crises have come and gone in a very short space of time and are accumulating, widening the spectrum of their harmful consequences for social and economic balance, financial stability, and the progress and development of territories and peoples.

We have no doubt that countering this trend is a strategic requirement if we are to meet the challenges of the future. We must, in my view, stand up for consistency against the instability of values and strategic goals. Consistency in favour of our ability to generate added value by increasing our natural capital.

I have already had the opportunity to share this with everyone: we must confirm that time is its duration, as Henri Bergson taught us, because, in reality, consistency is what is important, ensuring what is strategic and structural.  

In fact, the proposals for the 2024 Plan and Budget presented here by the Government reflect the desire of the Azoreans for a change as a result of the 2020 regional elections.

The documents reflect our commitment to the development of the Azores and to a different approach in the relations of the Government and the Administration with citizens and companies, based on the promotion of private initiative and sustainable development.

It is based on the dignity of work, the protection of individual freedoms, the promotion of families, the protection of the weakest, the promotion of economic growth and the control of public accounts, always striving for an ethic of social and political responsibility and the promotion of new citizenship for an ever more inclusive and cohesive society.

At the opening of the general debate on the draft Plan and Budget for 2024, I want to reiterate my personal position and that of the Government: we are open to accepting more proposals and seeking even more consensus, as we always have been and are in the parliamentary framework of this term.

For the first time in the Region, these proposals for the Plan and Budget also reflect the contents of a pioneering and historic Partnership Agreement with social partners - a Partnership Agreement signed within the Standing Commission on Social Dialogue of the Economic and Social Council of the Azores, which brought about a broad consensus, as a result of dialogue, negotiation and social mediation. They also reflect the assertiveness of the path set by this administration, which has seen 28 months of consecutive economic growth in the Azores. Thirty consecutive months of growth in the private consumption index. It has registered the highest number of employed people and the lowest number of registered unemployed people.

The consistency of these strategic options is good news.

The consistency that leads us to maintain, in the Region, the tax cuts that we introduced at the very beginning of our term, with the option of a tax differential of less than 30% of the national VAT, personal income tax and corporate income tax rates. This means lower national tax rates for workers, families, companies and consumers.

The consistency that leads us to maintain emblematic measures has proven to boost the mobility of Azoreans on our islands and that mobility has led to economic growth and the consolidation of the Azorean identity, as is the case with the Azores Fare.

This is the case with the end of the apportionment of aid to our farmers.

This is also the case with the continuation and extension of the New Elderly programme to all the islands of the Azores, with an additional 175 vacancies, already approved by the European Commission in the context of the reprogramming of the RRP.

The consistency leads us, once again, to propose a balanced budget, without resorting to additional net indebtedness, maintaining the course and purpose of reversing the trend of growing debt as a function of the GDP and preserving intergenerational equity. More transparent and solid accounts. This is evidenced by the objective, impartial and unbiased assessment by both the Court of Auditors, which issued a favourable opinion on the Region's 2022 accounts, and the critical assessment by the international rating agency Fitch, which upgraded the Region's rating. This is how the objective data confirms the strength of our path.

This Plan and Budget for 2024 delivers income, sustainability and growth for people, companies and institutions on each of our islands. The Azores are not an abstraction, they are the reality of each of our nine islands.

The proposed Plan amounts to 739 million, 718 thousand and 137 Euros.The budget amounts to two billion Euros. In terms of the Region's own revenue, it involves 978 million and 600 thousand Euros, which is higher than our running costs, as they stand at 964 million and 100 thousand Euros. Compared to the current year, there has been a 15% increase in investment and an 8% increase in running costs. More for investment than for running costs. We believe in the strength of this course of action as well as in its benefits and the confidence of our people in it.

I am here to stand up for this path of governance and development policies. I am the leader of this coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM). I am the leader of this Government and this governance.

Those who have worked to set us on this path are ready to continue working and serving our people. They need and recommend time to give consistency to the good results. The time spent doing and undoing has taken us backwards in our development. Progress is made by doing, continuing to do and not giving up on good results.

We have no doubt that this is how we best serve the Azores in their present and in their future. This has to continue. Going back to the past is a mistake. We do not want to make mistakes. For this reason, the budget documents for discussion and vote are rooted in dialogue, responsibility, consistency and stability. These documents confirm our priority for social justice and for families, and therefore provide for, among other measures:

- The 10% increase in the Azorean family allowance supplement for children and young people;

- The 5% increase in the Regional Pension Supplement, which will reach 100 Euros for the first bracket - with an estimated 32,600 pensioners and retirees benefiting from this measure - is what we are working for;

- The 5% increase in COMPAMID, estimated to reach 609 Euros, covering more than 22,000 people, amounting to a global support of 7 million Euros;

- The 15% increase in the daily allowance for displaced patients and accompanying persons, which will reach 57 Euros for the first bracket - it is with you that we stand in solidarity;

- The 15% increase in the special supplement for cancer patients, which will reach 35 Euros - it is well-deserved;

- The 16% increase in School Welfare Support. The allocation now stands at 15 million Euros and is expected to cover around 19,000 students;

- The doubling of the overall amount of support to be allocated to families with mortgage loans, with the added priority of increasing the regional public housing stock, which has been neglected over the last decade.

In the context of the RRP, we will add another 145 serviced plots to the 301 construction projects and 527 refurbishment projects already planned, to be subsequently allocated to middle-class families via public tenders.

In the labour area, we envisage:

- The 5% increase in the Regional Remuneration Supplement, with the number of beneficiaries rising from 8,450 in 2019 to 10,260 in 2024;

- We are also committed to the career settlement of 536 professionals hired by regional health services and establishments in the context of the pandemic - an end to precariousness and the promotion of staff stability;

- We plan to promote the general careers of the Regional Public Administration, ensuring a fairer salary level and realistic progression time in the respective careers by reducing the number of points needed in the assessment period from 10 to 6 and eliminating quotas from the assessment system.

With a budget that is good and better than its predecessors, in terms of the cruising speed of the implementation of Community funding, we cannot put it off. We have to do it. Doing it well and doing it better is worth it.

The Plan also provides for:

- Increasing the agricultural economy from 57.1 million Euros to 65.1 million Euros;

- Increasing the Economy of the Sea from 33.8 million Euros to 43.2 million Euros;

- Increasing Tourism Promotion from 9.5 million Euros to 14.1 million Euros;

- Strengthening the Strategy for environmental sustainability and decarbonisation of production;

- Strengthening the promotion of youth participation and their literacy in public, democratic and autonomic life - young people are the priority of the future;

- Strengthening the strategy of using innovation and technology in infrastructure maintenance and conservation works;

- Strengthening cooperation with local authorities, both municipalities and parishes, through the payment of revenue from the so-called tourist VAT, as well as through the creation of the Parishes Fund with an allocation of 4 million Euros.

In fact, as Albert Camus said, “Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present." We are doing so. We believe in the strength of this course of action as well as in its benefits and the confidence of our people in it. With the Azoreans and for the Azoreans.