Following two days of consultations with political parties and social and economic partners, President of the Regional Government José Manuel Bolieiro describes the 2027 Regional Plan and Budget as an “important and demanding challenge.” It will be the first budget after the conclusion of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, requiring the Azores to move from an exceptional period of European investment toward a new financial reality while maintaining measures designed to protect household income.
There are budgets that distribute resources, and there are budgets that mark the passage from one economic cycle to another. For the Azores, 2027 may belong to the latter category. With the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) reaching its conclusion, the Regional Government must prepare for a year in which many of the extraordinary investments of recent years will no longer provide the same financial framework. José Manuel Bolieiro acknowledges the transition openly, calling the coming budget both important and demanding and appealing to a shared “sense of responsibility.”
After consultations on the preliminary Regional Plan and Budget and the execution of the PRR, Bolieiro emphasized dialogue as part of governing. “To govern is also to listen, to engage in dialogue and to seek, in the different perspectives of Azorean society, contributions that allow us to make the best decisions for the future of the Azores,” he said. For the President of the Government, such consultation is also a means of reinforcing the political and social stability necessary for regional development.
Bolieiro says the 2027 budget will preserve policies with a direct effect on household income and well-being. Among those he specifically committed to maintaining are the maximum tax reduction permitted under the regional framework, the Tarifa Açores transportation program, free childcare, and the Novos Idosos program, alongside other measures intended to help Azoreans confront the cost of living. The political challenge will be to reconcile those commitments with a post-PRR financial environment in which the Region must increasingly convert previous investment into sustainable economic activity rather than depend upon another extraordinary injection of funds.
The President of the Regional Government describes the PRR’s implementation in the Azores as “an enormous success,” arguing that it reached all nine islands and generated investment in health, social inclusion, energy, housing, business capitalization, science and knowledge, the maritime economy, digitalization, human-resource development, agriculture, fisheries and public services. In Bolieiro’s assessment, the program did more than stimulate short-term demand: it expanded productive capacity and contributed to productivity, qualification, energy autonomy and social cohesion. The real test, however, begins after the spending itself ends. The infrastructure and capacity created through the PRR must now produce lasting economic and social returns.
That transition also dominated the recommendations presented by the Azores Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIA). The business organization argues that greater execution of the Azores 2030 program will be essential to replacing some of the investment momentum generated by the PRR and ensuring that available European resources are fully used. Its proposals also reveal persistent structural problems in an island economy, particularly transportation. The CCIA wants the maritime freight model reviewed, arguing that current tariff costs continue to penalize businesses, and proposes consideration of public-service obligations or a POSEI-type transportation support mechanism. It also calls for better passenger maritime connections, including between São Miguel and Santa Maria and more broadly among the islands, while recognizing the realities of seasonality and cost.
Air transportation remains equally sensitive. The CCIA is calling for close monitoring of the Azores Airlines privatization process and greater transparency regarding its most important developments, while respecting legitimately confidential aspects of the negotiations. For Azorean businesses, transportation is not simply another economic sector: it shapes the cost of goods, tourism competitiveness, mobility and the ability of companies on nine islands to participate in larger markets.
Tourism is another major concern. The Chamber wants a clearer strategy for 2027, developed with the sector and coordinated with other areas of the economy. It argues that VisitAzores needs renewed dynamism, substantially greater and fully executed promotional resources, and stronger campaigns against seasonality, particularly during the low season. The organization also advocates efforts to restore a low-cost carrier serving the domestic Portuguese market and to protect accessibility from important international markets, particularly the United States, Canada and Europe.
The CCIA additionally proposes reconsidering the organization of the Regional Government itself, suggesting a transversal governmental area devoted to the economy and another specifically responsible for tourism, provided such changes do not increase the cost of government. The proposal reflects a broader concern that the post-PRR period will require not simply additional spending, but greater coordination between investment, transportation, tourism and productive sectors.
That may ultimately be the central question surrounding the 2027 budget. The PRR brought an exceptional volume of investment into the Azores, but extraordinary financing cannot itself become an economic model. Roads, housing, renewable-energy systems, digital infrastructure, business investment and scientific capacity acquire their fullest value only when they continue generating opportunity after the funding program that created them has disappeared.
Bolieiro summarized the next stage as transforming the investment already made into “more development, more opportunities and better living conditions for all Azoreans.”
For the Azores, 2027 will therefore be more than another exercise in balancing revenues against expenditures. It will be the first significant test of what remains when the extraordinary money begins to recede. The PRR helped build capacity. The more difficult task now is ensuring that the capacity can build a future.
Based on a story in Correio dos Açores-Photos from Governo dos Açores and CA.