15 MILLION EUROS!
There’s no turning back: listening to our regional parliament for hours at the end of this week and discussing the plan and budget only confirms what all Azoreans think about the mediocrity of the overwhelming majority of our MPs. We need to change this regional hardship; otherwise, citizens will completely discredit the system and the regime. We have never had such poorly prepared caucuses as in this legislature. We need to reduce the number of MPs and increase their salaries in order to attract other talent. We must reform the electoral system, the constituencies, and a new form of parliamentary work. As it is, it’s a pain and discourages anyone from going to the polls. Paying 15 million euros to get these results is an affront to our citizenship.

This has to be one of the themes we reflect on when we consider the 50th anniversary of our Autonomy. The reform of the autonomous system is taking too long, and the later it arrives, the worse it will be for the system. The appearance of candidates outside the traditional party structures, with high voter acceptance, whether affiliated or not, is just one sign of the citizens’ fatigue. Sebastianism and populism are rising because the traditional parties and their leaders are too complacent and convinced, with hints of arrogance, that they have the people in their hands, asleep and unwilling to react. A good jolt might help change this mentality.

HOUSES IN RUINS
Several readers from different towns have sent us messages confirming the state of abandonment in which many houses in the parish centers are, as we warned in this newspaper this week. They all confirm the state of ‘deserted streets’, where once their communities were very dynamic and busy. Some tell stories of trying to restore these dilapidated houses, but they always encounter countless bureaucratic difficulties, legislation that doesn’t make it easy, and teams from local councils that only complicate matters. One of the biggest obstacles to acquiring these houses is the old legislation, with local authorities demanding an inadequate effort from those interested.

One of them, with knowledge of the subject, describes: “The big problem with the majority of houses in ruins is that some heirs won’t even buy or let them sell, and all it takes is for one of them with an inheritance share of 1-2% to say no, and nothing is done. Moreover, the town halls don’t make it easy to do bureaucratic work because they should make it easier to do what isn’t structural work. At the very least, a young person buying a ruin needs 6,000 euros for projects and licensing. Deputy Paulo Moniz, who is involved in this issue, will propose revising the legislation in January. We believe it will be approved.

The citizens are waiting.

Osvaldo Cabral- Editorial in Diário dos Açores 1-12-2024

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from various newspaper editorials, columnists, thinkers, and writers from the Azores to give the diaspora and those interested in the current Azores a sense of the significant opinions from various spectrums on some of the archipelago’s issues.

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)