The conference “A fair retirement for the Azoreans,” which has as its backdrop a preliminary proposal by the Regional Government to change the retirement age in the Azores, will take place on October 9, starting at 6pm, at the Angra do Heroísmo Cultural and Congress Center.
According to a note from the Regional Government Vice-President, who is organizing the event, the keynote speaker will be Pedro Mota Soares, former Minister of Solidarity, Employment and Social Security in Portugal’s 19th Constitutional Government (2011-2015). He was reappointed to this post in the 20th Constitutional Government on October 30, 2015.
Pedro Mota Soares has a degree in Law and a post-graduate degree in Labor Law. He is a lawyer and vice-president of CPAS (Lawyers’ and Solicitors’ Welfare Fund). He is the co-author of “O Novo Código de Trabalho, anotado e comentado (2009)” and “Código dos regimes contributivos do sistema previdencial da segurança social (2011)”.
He was a member of the Portuguese Parliament in the 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th legislatures and was the leader of the CDS-PP Parliamentary Group in the 10th legislature.

In July 2023, he was appointed as a Supreme Council of the Portuguese Red Cross member.
“This conference aims to address the Azoreans’ access to the social security system, specifically the old-age pension, taking into account the principle of equality, enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, the principles of social equity and positive differentiation, set out in the Basic Law of Social Security, and the evolution of average life expectancy in the Autonomous Region of the Azores,” according to a note from the vice-presidency.
The background to this event is “the draft law that the Regional Government of the Azores is preparing to submit to the Regional Legislative Assembly to establish a fair pension for the Azoreans,” the same document reads.
The Vice President of the Government, Artur Lima, will open the event. Admission is free; attendance can be confirmed by telephone – 295 402 300 – until October 6.


Although the Regional Government has not stated the retirement age considered fair in the proposal, DI knows that it should correspond to a reduction of more than three years, bearing in mind the average life expectancy in the Azores from age 65.
What is at stake are equal rights for all Portuguese, and the Azoreans, because they live less, are penalized in the enjoyment of their retirement years, according to the reasoning that our sources guarantee is at the basis of the Regional Government’s preliminary proposal.
The document will have to be submitted to the Assembly of the Republic, but first, it will have to be approved in the Azorean parliament, which is why it is considered a preliminary draft and not a proposal.
It has not yet been determined when the document will be submitted to the Regional Assembly.

in Diário Insular, José Lourenço-diretor

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.

A gentle reminder that October is our annual Crowdfunding event. We have a goal of 22 thousand dollars to assist with the multitude of projects we have going on, from Oral history collection to producing documentation on the Portuguese-American experience in Central California, from our speaker and conference series to Bruma Publications, from the Cagarro Colloquium to the Alfred Lewis Bilingual Reading Series, from this NOVIDADES news platform to FILAMENTOS, arts, and letters in the Azorean Diaspora, from ADAM (Azores Diaspora Media Alliance) to the implementation of a Diaspora Forum. Please donate. With your help, this community-based grassroots fundraiser can reach our goal of 22 thousand dollars by October 31. Thanks so much. Here is the link. If you prefer to donate with a check, please make the checks to Fresno State Foundation and mail them to Diniz Borges, 1418 Clarete Avenue, Tulare-CA 93274.

bit.ly/46fdNIo