PSD/Azores to present to the Regional Legislative Assembly a resolution to reduce the tariff from 134 euros, and BE (Left Bloc political party) asks the Parliament to call for the measure to be declared unconstitutional
Yesterday, the government of the Azores “strongly opposed” the definition of a maximum eligible cost of 600 euros for air travel between the region, the mainland, and Madeira.
The government “regrets” that the decree on the social mobility allowance, published in Diário da República, “was released without the conclusions of the working group set up to review matters relating to the social mobility allowance, whose final report was due by the end of the month.”
“Recognizing the need to standardize the use of the social mobility allowance – which has been abused by some -” the Government of the Azores reiterates that ‘it is against the application of a maximum eligible cost for these trips,’ and ‘regrets’ the publication of the ordinance ”at a time when the working group on the subject has not yet finalized its report.”

The national government justifies the limit of 600 euros with “fraud” that has occurred in this process.
The Government of the Republic’s ordinance begins by justifying that the social mobility allowance, which has been in force for 9 years, “has proved to be inadequate, causing the average eligible cost to rise.”
On the other hand, the decree, signed by the Minister of State for Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, and the Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, considers it “crucial to review the current model, also concerning fraud control.”
It, therefore, considers it “necessary to amend” the legislation of March 27, 2015 “to mitigate the undesirable effects of applying the current methodology, namely by introducing a maximum eligible cost to cover most of the price of tickets sold, according to the fare distributions calculated in 2023, and a maximum value for the ticketing fee, for eligibility purposes.”
The ordinance thus determines that “the value of the social mobility allowance to be granted by the State to resident passengers, equivalent resident passengers and student passengers, for journeys made between the mainland and the Autonomous Region of the Azores and between the latter and the Autonomous Region of Madeira, has a maximum eligible cost of 600 euros.”
It also defines the maximum ticketing fee for eligibility purposes as 35 euros for one-way tickets (OW) and 70 euros for return tickets (RT). The changes introduced by this ordinance apply only to tickets purchased after it entered into force and do not apply to tickets purchased before that date, regardless of whether the journey has yet occurred.
An ordinance that unites all the parties in the Azores in contesting the measure.

PSD/A will present in the Legislative Assembly resolution to lower fares below 134 euros
Yesterday, PSD/Azores MP Joaquim Machado considered it “unacceptable to set any financial ceiling that jeopardizes Azoreans’ right to mobility.”
“This was, is, and will be the position of the PSD/Azores on this matter,” the Social Democrat MP reiterated to the media at the delegation of the Regional Legislative Assembly in Ponta Delgada. According to Joaquim Machado, the Social Democrats’ understanding of the Social Mobility Allowance “has always been very clear and does not vary according to the political color of the Government of the Republic,” he assured.
The Regional Assembly Member “regrets” that the Government of the Republic “had taken this decision before the conclusions of the working group – which the Government of the Republic itself appointed – for the revision of the Social Mobility Allowance model are known and whose final report has not yet been released.”
To reinforce the defense of the rights of the Azoreans, “the parties of the Coalition (PSD, CDS-PP and PPM) will deliver, in the Legislative Assembly, a draft resolution so that the Parliament of the Azores pronounces itself in order to reinforce the conditions of mobility of our fellow citizens, namely the possibility for the Azoreans to pay less than the current 134 euros for air connections with the continent”.
“The PSD/Azores recognizes the need to review the current model, to put an end to the abuses of some, who are currently under investigation by the courts, as is public,” he said. For Joaquim Machado, the revision of the Social Mobility Allowance “can never jeopardize the acquired rights of Azorean passengers”, which is why he supports “the setting of maximum ticketing fees, within the range proposed by the Portuguese Association of Travel Agencies”, he concluded.

PS (the leading opposition party) says, “There is a step backward in the mobility process of the Azoreans.”
The PS/Azores members of Parliament, Francisco César and Sérgio Ávila, expressed their “surprise” at the publication by the Government of the Republic of the decree setting a maximum limit of 600 euros per ticket in the amount eligible for access to the Social Mobility Allowance for journeys between the Azores and the mainland and Madeira.
According to MP Sérgio Ávila, this decree “goes against everything that the PSD and CDS-PP have committed to in the context of the Social Mobility Allowance.”
“Contrary to what these parties had committed to, there will be no maintenance of rights, but rather an effective setback in the mobility process for Azoreans, who will now pay much more for their trips to the mainland.”
According to the MP, under the Socialist Party government, “Azoreans never paid more than 134 euros” for this trip. In contrast, under the PSD/CDS-PP government, “they will pay much more, contrary to the commitment of the Regional Government of the Azores and the PSD/CDS-PP at a national level.”
But, as Sérgio Ávila stresses, the publication of this decree “is even more surprising when the Working Group set up to study this issue has still not presented the conclusion of its work, violating, from the outset, all the commitments made to the Azoreans.”
“They promised a more simplified and less bureaucratic process, but in practice what they have achieved is higher costs for the Azoreans, with an increase in the price of traveling to the mainland, going against everything they had assumed,” Sérgio Ávila pointed out.
Sérgio Ávila also recalled that last May the member of the Portuguese Parliament, Paulo Moniz, “guaranteed the maintenance of the rights of the Azoreans in this matter, and now, only four months later, ‘the Azoreans are faced with an increased difficulty in the price of their trips to the mainland’.

CDS-PP (conservative party) against “imposition” ceiling
For its part, the CDS-PP Parliamentary Group in the Regional Legislative Assembly also spoke out yesterday against the decree published in the Diário da República (Official Gazette) that sets a maximum limit on the eligible cost of air travel to the mainland and Madeira.
Catarina Cabeceiras, a member of the CDS-PP Parliamentary Group, said that it was “inconceivable to publish this decree without knowing the conclusions of the working group set up to review the social mobility allowance”, stressing that the final report was due to be delivered by the end of the month, which makes this “a premature and less informed decision”. Catarina Cabeceiras acknowledged that “there is a need to adapt and moralize the social mobility allowance, which has been abused with the aim of undue benefits,” but that, nevertheless, “it makes no sense to make a decision without knowing the working group’s report.”
She stressed that, for the CDS, “it is essential that decisions are taken in an informed and responsible manner since their repercussions can impact Azoreans in adverse and unwanted ways,” recalling that the Social Mobility Allowance “is a measure of major importance for promoting social equity and territorial cohesion and the CDS, for the reasons stated, reiterates its position against the ordinance.”

BE-Left Bloc: Measure “is unconstitutional”
The Azorean Left Bloc, for its part, considered “unconstitutional” the Government of the Republic’s decree imposing a maximum limit of 600 euros per ticket on the amount eligible for access to the social mobility allowance for trips to the mainland and Madeira.
This measure “is unconstitutional because it was taken without hearing the Parliament of the Azores and calls on the President of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores to raise a successive review before the Constitutional Court.”
BE MP António Lima announced that the Bloc would be proposing to Parliament “to reverse the decision to impose this limit and to simplify the process by putting an end to advances of more than 134 euros.”
The Bloco MP believes that the government parties – PSD, CDS, and PPM – and Chega “are complicit in this ‘attack on the right to mobility of Azoreans and Azorean women,’ because they recently voted against a Bloco proposal, in the Azores parliament, which ”was intended to make a stand against imposing limits on the current model.”
During the debate on this Bloc proposal, “the regional government and the PSD guaranteed in parliament that no Azorean would be harmed, I want to see what they have to say now,” said António Lima, who believes that the regional government owes the Azoreans an apology.

In the opinion of CHEGA (the ultra-right-wing party), the decree published today in Diário da República, which changes the value of the social mobility allowance, “castrates the freedom and mobility of the Azoreans. This is unacceptable.”
The document “goes against what CHEGA has been defending for three years, suggesting that Azoreans should only pay the 134 euros defined for each trip to the mainland, and without bureaucracy, that is, without having to go to the CTT counters to receive the refund paid at the time of purchase, above the stipulated amount.”

In Correio dos Açores – Natalino Viveiros, director

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