Elizabeth Santos of EAPN (European Anti-poverty network Portugal), said yesterday that a quarter of the Madeiran population, approximately 61,000 people, live on less than 551 euros per month.
“The MPT (Earth Party Movement) recalls that the per capita income to access the PROAGES programme is 576.62 euros, and this programme is succeeding even though there has been a need for reinforcement of funds due to over subscription. The MPT infers that an “orange bubble surrounds Miguel Albuquerque”: made up of well-off individuals whose incomes are in excess of 2,000 euros a month, so he does not realize the difficulties of the general regional population.
The Region needs leaders who understand the reality of the ordinary citizen, not leaders who live in unreal bubbles! The party stated.
Responding to this, the President of Madeira stated that nobody lived on such a paltry amount, and the only person who believed in such figures was Elizabeth Santos herself.
The comments section of the article made interesting reading!
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
