The Vice-President of the Regional Government, Artur Lima, defended in Lisbon the full application of Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in the future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034. During the Interministerial Committee on European Affairs meeting, the government official expressed “great concern” about the current design of the financing proposals.

For Artur Lima, it is imperative that the MFF include a specific financial allocation for the Outermost Regions (ORs). The Vice-President criticized the centralized management model in the Member States, calling governance through national partnership plans that take autonomy from the regionsa “bad principle.” “Not valuing the Azores and the ORs is a strategic mistake,” he stressed, noting that the archipelago offers crucial added value to Europe in the maritime, space, and submarine communications fields.

In the agricultural sector, maintaining the POSEI program was identified as vital for regional sustainability. In addition, the governor warned of the lack of European support for maritime and air transport, reminding Lisbon and Brussels that, for the Azoreans, “the railroad is the air and the sea.”

Lima concluded by calling on the Government of the Republic to assert the strategic added value of the autonomous regions in European negotiations, ensuring that the outermost regions are not neglected in the next investment cycle.

In Diário Insular-José Lourenço, director

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