The President of the Regional Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, and the Regional Secretary for Finance, Duarte Freitas, in the context of the preliminary proposal for the Annual Regional Plan and Budget for 2026, welcomed the parliamentary parties, the leadership of the Azores Agricultural Federation, and the Rector of the University of the Azores to Santana.

After the meeting, João Bruto da Costa, parliamentary leader of the PSD, accompanied by party leaders Pedro Gomes and Joaquim Machado, told journalists that the meeting had allowed them to convey to the Government “the importance of consolidating policies for investing in people, of investing our human capital, whether in private or public sector workers. This means maintaining the low taxes we adopted at the beginning of this coalition’s term in office, thereby also improving the income of families and businesses in the Azores.”

On the other hand, there is also a commitment to analyzing and improving the quality of public spending to reduce waste and thereby consolidate the operating expenses of the Regional Administration. There is also a need to establish the execution of the PRR and Azores 2030 funds as a priority and an absolute priority.

For us, he said, “it has to be a clear commitment from the government, and next year, this commitment to the implementation of the PRR funds, as everyone knows, ends in 2026. If this requires resorting to debt that remains below 60% of GDP, then so be it, because for us, with the growth of our economy, we maintain financial stability in the region.

This stability is also important for us in political and budgetary terms. It is essential for the region that next year be a year of implementation of the PRR and the Azores 2030 funds. With this, we can also move forward with the transformation of the Azores that we are promoting, investing in people, investing in human capital, and improving our public spending.”

Asked if there will be a crisis in the region, he recalled that “at the beginning of this coalition’s governance, both in the previous and current legislatures, political and budgetary stability are obviously essential for the implementation of this change we are making in the Azores. And this statement of mine, this statement of ours on behalf of the PSD, is merely a reconfirmation of our understanding.

With political stability, and we had the example of 2024, if the budget had not been rejected and early elections had not been called, our path would have been much more, so to speak, normal in terms of the evolution we were experiencing in our economy and the governance of the Azores. And so, to implement these priorities in terms of the PRR and the Azores 2030 Operational Program, and to consolidate the tax cuts and the investment we have made in people and urban capital in the Azores, political and budgetary stability are obviously essential.”

The Social Democratic parliamentary leader admitted that 2026 “will be a demanding year, first and foremost because the execution of PRR funds is at its limit and, therefore, we have established as an absolute priority not to waver in this commitment and in the region’s need not to miss the opportunity to execute these investments, which, as you know, have also greatly increased the effort required because they were made with 2019 price forecasts that are substantially different from current prices.”

PS is concerned with the debt.

Francisco César, leader of the PS party in the Azores, said after the meeting that he had expressed concern and some dissatisfaction, as well as some regret, because “we have seen that what we have been warning about has been happening. The Socialist Party is not satisfied with the government’s failures because the government’s failures are, unfortunately, failures for all of us, for the Autonomous Region. And it is a fact that the financial situation we are experiencing in the Region is a very serious, very complicated situation, whose public finance problem means that several political options are no longer being minimally fulfilled.

About a year ago, we were here in this room and drew attention to the urgency of making a plan to reduce public spending. Firstly, by reducing the size of the government, the number of advisors, the number of specialist technicians hired, and the number of partners requested. And all of this, at the time, was rejected and rejected by the PSD, the government, and CHEGA.

At that time, we also proposed a payment plan for suppliers. There was a problem, and there still is a problem, of regional government debt to companies, citizens, IPSS (Private Social Solidarity Institutions), sports associations, and other entities in the same field to whom the Regional Government is unable to fulfill, at a minimum, its commitments. Our goal was for this reduction in debt to suppliers to be around 12.5% per quarter. This proposal was also rejected about a year ago by the coalition and CHEGA.

We also made a proposal to reduce the region’s debt and its exposure in terms of the public accounts deficit. This proposal was ignored by both the coalition and CHEGA.

We made a fourth proposal for the creation of a Special Commission to monitor the PRR. The PRR is probably the biggest challenge that the Regional Government and, therefore, the Autonomous Region of the Azores will have to tackle in the near future. We have a very substantial financial package and a set of public investments in this area that are essential and imperative to be materialized and implemented. About a year ago, this proposal was also rejected by the Regional Government, the coalition, and CHEGA.

Today, we see that, unfortunately, we were right. Last week, the Government proposed a plan to reduce its size: the number of advisors, the number of trips, its size, the reduction of payments to suppliers, the reduction of debt, the reduction of the amount owed to suppliers, including the creation of a PRR monitoring unit.

We have had five years of this government’s administration, and what we are seeing now is that, in a hurry and in an almost disjointed manner, the Regional Government is trying to compensate for what it has not done in the last five years for the next investment plan. In truth, what is at stake is the interest of the Azores. Our economy is mainly based on tourism, and any variation in tourist flows can have a truly complicated impact on the regional economy and employment.

In addition, we have a housing crisis, for which the only solution presented by the government is based exclusively on and materialized in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. And when I talk about health, when I talk about agriculture and livestock, fisheries, social support, support for job creation, housing support, we see that anything that goes beyond EU funds does not, in fact, have any support from the Regional Government. These are therefore situations that concern us and that will also deserve, in terms of planning and budgeting, to be properly addressed in terms of proposed amendments, both from the point of view of containing expenditure, implementing and executing EU programs, and also in other areas that are fundamental to the development of the Azores.

For Francisco César, “the regional government has had a very low implementation rate of Community funds.” As for the vote, César does not comment, but says, “Right now, I cannot comment on a document I am not familiar with. The Socialist Party has a stance, which it has always had, which is: we are not a protest party that likes to speak loudly just for the media. The Socialist Party is not Chega, let’s be clear. The Socialist Party is a party that cares about the region and regional interests.”

PRR in the spotlight for the CDS

CDS Like all parties, the Secretary-General of the CDS-PP/Azores, Pedro Pinto, after a short hearing with the President of the Regional Government, also considered 2026 to be a year of extreme importance in the implementation of the PRR. “Our political focus is on the completion of the PRR, for all that this means, whether it be the material completion of investments or, obviously, avoiding having to return funds due to non-completion,” he said.

The CDS-PP/Azores considers, however, that commitments cannot jeopardize the social policies already achieved: “We express our concern that, above all, everything that has already been achieved for all Azoreans at the social level is not undermined by the need for investment and compliance with the goals to which we are bound.”

Despite the explicit challenges, Pedro Pinto paints a positive picture of the current economic situation in the Azores: “Fortunately, tax revenue is increasing, which means that we have an increasingly dynamic economy, meaning that families have more and more money available to spend and, therefore, this is already a consequence, a result of the political choices we have implemented since the coalition came to power in 2020.”

For the CDS-PP, this growth translates into unprecedented social indicators: “In terms of employment, we have the highest number of Azoreans ever employed, we have the lowest number of unemployed ever, and we also have the lowest number of people living in extreme poverty ever. All of this is very positive data on the evolution of our society as a whole.” As for the possibility of instability with the approval of the Regional Budget, Pedro Pinto stresses that “causing a political crisis at this moment is a true act of piracy.”

IL expresses concern

Deputy Nuno Barata, accompanied by the regional coordinator of the Liberal Initiative, was in Santana and brought several concerns to the meeting. “We entered the meeting with some concerns and left with the same ones. A year ago, we were in the same room, asking the government to present a plan to cut public spending, given the unsustainability of regional finances, and this plan was not implemented in 2025, and we have a promise that it will be done in 2026 in the amount of €30 million. Even so, as I mentioned in the plenary session last week, a grain of corn is better than nothing, because a bushel is not made with less than a grain of corn.”

Nuno Barata revealed that another issue of concern to the Liberal Initiative has to do with the spiraling growth of public debt, an issue that the IL brought up for discussion in the 2022 and 2023 budgets, 2023 budgets and that most regional economists, such as the former President of the Economic and Social Council of the Azores, Gualter Furtado, have already referred to as one of the most worrying situations in the Region. “We do not believe that there will be a revision of the Finance Law of the Autonomous Regions in the near future. We do not want a revision of the LFR and a possible bailout of regional public finances that compromises the tax differential in force in the Region, i.e., that increases taxes for the people of the Azores. We advocate control of regional public debt, which, as we have learned, although it remains below 60% of GDP, will increase by €1.15 billion. Therefore, there will be an additional €150 million for our intergenerational responsibility, which means that it will be the young people who will soon enter the labor market and begin to pay. Given this scenario, Nuno Barata assures us that he has conveyed his concerns to the President of the Government and the Regional Secretary of Finance regarding next year’s budget, and we have been informed that the Regional Government’s room for maneuver is greatly constrained by the PRR and PO-2030. As we have always said, since we entered active politics in the Azores in the first legislative term, investment is not always made with a view to return, but rather, and almost always, with a view to expenditure. This is yet another budget that will focus solely on EU funds, which will also bring expenditure. As for the vote, Nuno Barata says that only after reading the documents will they say how they will vote.

CHEGA wants housing as a priority

On behalf of Chega, José Pacheco, parliamentary leader and party leader in the Azores, said after the meeting that “we have not brought, nor are we supposed to bring at this time, concrete proposals, not least because there is no budget. There is an intention for a budget, there are some guidelines, in short, programmatic, and we would not dare to bring any proposal here without having a more or less idea of what the budget will be. We continue to have the same concerns, as our people say, the same and stronger ones, one of which is housing. We made it clear to the President of the Government that we cannot continue with this socialist housing policy in which the poor have everything and the ordinary citizen, who works like all of us, ends up being relegated to the background.”

Furthermore, he said: “As you know, for five years we have been advocating housing for those who want to pay for their homes, with the honorable exceptions of those who need some support from the state. Most people really need to work and pay their bills, and if they don’t know that, it’s up to us to explain that this is what they should do.”

José Pacheco also recalled that they brought important issues to the Assembly. One of them was the reduction of the state apparatus. This does not imply layoffs, but rather, as Representative Francisco Lima presented in the Assembly, we have 20 measures to reduce the state apparatus, and one of them, for example, is that for every three people who leave the public administration, only one new person will be hired. There are offices full of people, including at Lotaçor. We also talked about privatizations, where it is not clear what people do. We don’t understand, but we continue to pay. This also applies to some politicians, where sometimes we don’t know what they do, but we continue to pay. This has to stop, and it has to stop now. We are willing to make a gradual revolution; we are not here to do anything dramatic, and in this sense, we have even spoken here with the President of the Government about the need to be careful with these cuts. We cannot go from 8 to 80, for example, the Azores Tariff, which has been in force since 2021 and has been a great success, but perhaps it is time to update prices. The problem is that if they do this dramatically, we will have to update prices gradually so that Azorean consumers do not feel a strong impact.

On the issue of privatization, the question of EDA was on the table; there is also the question of SATA. We also understand that the next budget will have a constraint, and we will have to respect that, which is the implementation of the PRR. This also obliges us to ensure that most of the public benefits are conditional on the implementation of the PRR.

PAN warns of a lack of liquidity

From the PAN, Pedro Neves demonstrated that the hearing had been “limited” due to the economic situation in the Region. They stressed that the party’s contribution will always be responsible. Still, he regrets the pressure that the PRR and PO2030 exert on public accounts: “It is unfortunate that we have to give up a portion of our budget in order to comply with the PRR. This is the reality and this is what will happen in 2026.“ Despite the increase in tax revenue, the deputy warned that ”we do not have the liquidity for the expenditure we have“ and that ”all parties must be responsible.”

The sole deputy anticipates new debt: “We will take on debt again, we will have to resort to the market again to comply with the PRR and PO2030. I am convinced that 2026 will be an extremely demanding year and it should be so for all parties.”

When questioned by journalists about support for the Regional Government, Pedro Neves clarified that “the measures we are going to take will not increase expenditure; at most, they will be measures in terms of investment, or, at zero cost, they will simply be political measures.” He also argued that the Region should not depend on Lisbon, stating that “we have to look to ourselves and only ourselves.”

As for the Regional Finance Law, the deputy considered a revision necessary, but without any short-term illusions: “We agree that we have to change it, but let’s be honest, it won’t be next year. This is something that takes time, it is something that requires consultation with all the political parties in the autonomous regions of Portugal and together with the State Budget.”

PPM presents strategies

At the meeting, the Popular Monarchist Party (PPM) presented its strategic priorities and contributions to the balanced and sustainable development of the archipelago. Party leader Manuel São João said that “the goal is to strengthen the competitiveness of the regional economy, promote social justice, and ensure territorial cohesion, making sure that no island and no Azorean is left behind.”

The PPM’s priorities are based on fiscal policy, tourism, social support and redistribution, economic diversification, housing, control of public spending, territorial cohesion, administrative coordination, education and training, health, agriculture and fisheries, the environment and renewable energy, transport and mobility, youth and population retention, and Azorean culture and identity.

Manuel São João also said that “the PPM presents these proposals as a responsible and constructive contribution to the definition of the 2026 Plan and Budget. We advocate a region that combines economic growth, social justice, and territorial cohesion with a more efficient public administration that is attentive to the needs of citizens.

The PPM is committed to working together with the regional government to make 2026 a year of consolidation for the sustainable development of the Azores.

The Popular Monarchist Party appeals to the sense of responsibility of all parties in view of the need for a Plan and Budget that guarantees the continued growth of the regional economy and the fair distribution of an ever-improving quality of life for all Azoreans,” concluded the leader.

DC/FF/JHA/NC - Crreio dos Açores-Natalino Viveiros, director. 


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