The Council of State, chaired by the President of the Republic and attended by the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, is being held today. The fall of the government led by Luís Montenegro is at stake after the Motion of Confidence failed in Parliament on Tuesday. We’re going to have elections again.

This national political crisis also has consequences in the Azores. On the sidelines of his visit to BTL, José Manuel Bolieiro said that “the worst thing that could happen is to add to the instability that the world is experiencing in terms of the economy, war and the lack of consolidation of international partnerships and alliances, a national crisis of all kinds. This penalizes the country”. In the opinion of the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, what must be done more and more “is an appeal to everyone’s sense of responsibility and state. It’s important to put the public interest above private interests, particularly party interests.” The fall of the Democratic Alliance government, a year after it took over the running of the country, “was not good news, now what we have to do ‘is minimize the damage because democracy prevails’.

The Azores will also suffer from what is happening at the national level. As we are left with a caretaker government, “the Azores will suffer delays in everything,” guarantees José Manuel Bolieiro.

Throughout his administration, the Azorean leader recalls that he has always “complained – and I complained to previous administrations – about a kind of neglect of the rights of the Azores vis-à-vis the Republic. And now that we are on the road to recovering from many delays and ensuring the fair distribution of national wealth to the Azores, and in the context of the upward revision of the Autonomous Regions’ Finance Law, what we are seeing is that this could be disturbed.”

As for “the good execution of EU funds, especially those in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), they could also be penalized”. However, Bolieiro says, “It’s important to join forces and for the people to be properly enlightened so that they have the options to develop political and governmental stability. Ungovernability serves no one in democracy or in our country. I hope that solutions can be found for governance and stability”. Bolieiro recalls that his government, despite not having an absolute majority, “has apparently been a benchmark for stability in Portuguese politics, within the framework of what has been the political solution in the Azores and of the Autonomy’s self-government bodies.”

What the president of the government wants is for “the Portuguese people and the voters to be inspired, and duly enlightened, to guarantee not an option for populism, not an option for absenteeism, two serious risks, but rather a mobilizing participation in the name of Portugal’s governability and political stability.” As head of the Azorean executive, and in that capacity, José Manuel Bolieiro didn’t want to comment on whether Luís Montenegro, as leader of the PSD, should be a candidate or whether he has the political conditions to do so. “It would be inappropriate for me to say too much on this matter as President of the Government. What I can say, as a witness, is that with Luís Montenegro as Prime Minister, we began to resolve the Azores’ long-standing and conflicting issues with the Republic. There was a sense of favor for the Azores in the sense of fairly fulfilling the responsibilities and duties of the State, which until then had been unfulfilled. That’s the only thing I can say now,” said José Manuel Bolieiro.

Nélia Câmara is a journalist for the newspaper Correio dos Açores.

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.