With the governing PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition holding only 26 of the 57 seats in the Azorean Legislative Assembly, approval of the 2027 Regional Plan and Budget will depend on opposition votes. PS and Chega, whose abstentions allowed the 2026 documents to pass, are refusing for now to reveal how they will vote, while parties and unions place healthcare, housing, salaries, the cost of living and public finances at the center of the debate.
A budget is ultimately a political map of choices: it reveals not only how much money a government possesses, but where it believes the most urgent roads toward the future should lead. In the Azores, preparation of the 2027 Regional Plan and Budget has acquired an additional significance because the Government does not possess a parliamentary majority capable of approving the documents alone. President of the Regional Government José Manuel Bolieiro has therefore begun consultations with political parties and social partners in a process where dialogue is not merely institutional courtesy—it may determine whether the Region has an approved budget.
The PSD, CDS-PP and PPM together control 26 of the Legislative Assembly’s 57 seats. The two largest opposition parties, PS and Chega, abstained on the 2026 Plan and Budget, allowing them to pass, but neither is prepared to promise the same outcome for 2027. PS/Azores leader Francisco César stressed that last year’s decision was “exceptional,” intended to avoid political blockage during the decisive phase of implementing the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR). “If the 2027 Budget is merely a budget of continuity, the Government cannot presume that the PS will make its approval possible,” he warned. While expressing willingness to engage in “responsible dialogue,” César identified three principal concerns: the significant increase in the cost of living for families and businesses, what he characterized as troubling regional economic indicators, and the sustainability of public finances.
Chega leader José Pacheco was equally unwilling to anticipate his party’s vote, saying its decision would reflect whether Azoreans themselves appeared satisfied with the Government’s response. He argued that the 2027 documents must restore investment capacity and address persistent problems in housing, education, healthcare and support for older residents. Pacheco acknowledged the constraints imposed by the weight of salaries and previously assumed financial commitments but argued that limited room for maneuver cannot become a justification for inaction.
Within the governing coalition, continuity is being presented less as repetition than as the preservation of programs considered essential after the end of PRR financing. PSD parliamentary leader João Bruto da Costa called for action against the underfunding of healthcare, greater investment in housing and continued assistance to families, including policies to mitigate increases in fuel and other essential costs. CDS/Azores secretary-general Pedro Pinto similarly emphasized demographic change, older residents, healthcare, housing and the cost of living. “Life does not stop because there is no longer a PRR,” he observed, arguing that public investment must continue even as the extraordinary European recovery cycle comes to an end. PPM representative Sandra Alemão added projects for Corvo and a space technology center on Santa Maria to her party’s priorities, alongside homelessness, addiction, school dropout, Azores Airlines privatization and revision of the Regional Finance Law.
The opposition parties outside PS and Chega are also pressing distinct agendas. Bloco de Esquerda coordinator António Lima wants stronger intervention against rising housing, fuel and essential-goods costs, together with increased family incomes and greater public housing investment. Liberal Initiative coordinator Hugo Almeida called instead for structural reforms and greater fiscal autonomy, while expressing concern about €160 million in debt refinancing. PAN deputy Pedro Neves placed healthcare, housing, civil protection, firefighters, animal welfare and environmental protection among his priorities, warning particularly about the difficulty young Azoreans face in accessing housing and about the possibility that post-PRR public investment could contract.
Outside Parliament, organized labor is bringing wages and poverty directly into the budget discussion. UGT/Azores president Manuel Pavão called for better salaries and living conditions, continued employment and economic growth, and stronger responses to poverty, social exclusion and early school leaving. CGTP/Azores coordinator Rui Teixeira advocated a general wage increase, stronger collective bargaining agreements, an increase in the regional supplement to the minimum wage from 5 to 10 percent and a €100 complementary remuneration payment. Bolieiro’s consultations are continuing with social solidarity institutions, Misericórdias, Casas do Povo, business and construction organizations, parish representatives and the Azores Economic and Social Council.
Despite their ideological differences, a striking convergence is already visible. Housing appears repeatedly. So do healthcare, household purchasing power and the consequences of rising prices. Beneath those immediate concerns lies a larger fiscal question: what happens when extraordinary PRR resources recede while the social and infrastructural expectations they helped create remain? The 2027 Budget will be among the first important tests of whether the Region can convert an exceptional period of European investment into financially sustainable policies.
There is also a political test. Without a majority, governing requires negotiation, but negotiation does not necessarily mean instability. It can also force priorities into sharper focus. The Government must decide what it is prepared to change to obtain parliamentary support; the opposition must decide which concessions justify allowing a budget to pass and which differences are fundamental enough to vote against it.
Fifty years after political and constitutional Autonomy gave the Azores institutions capable of making their own choices, the debate over the 2027 Budget returns self-government to its most practical meaning. Autonomy is expressed in ceremonies and statutes, but it is tested in hospital waiting rooms, household bills, salaries, homes young families can afford, assistance to older citizens, schools and the ability to invest without compromising tomorrow’s finances.
The arithmetic in the Legislative Assembly is simple: 26 seats are not 29. Everything that follows from that arithmetic will require something more difficult—the politics of finding enough common ground to transform competing priorities into a budget for nine islands.
Based on a story in Diário Insular-José Lourenço, director. Photos from the Regional Assembly of the Azores.