The President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, admitted that the controversial Law of the Sea, which is under discussion in the national parliament, may be improved, in favour of the needs of the autonomous regions.
“The proposal can be improved. It is a legislative process in which there is still room for debate and even legal solutions to be developed, which can better reflect what seems to me to be a general will that the Republic and the autonomous regions collaborate closely with each other in taking advantage of this immense potential that the whole country has, which is the ocean,” Santos Silva said at the end of a meeting with parliamentary leaders of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores, in Horta, as part of a four-day visit to the archipelago.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic was referring to the proposal to amend the Basic Law on Maritime Spatial Planning, better known as the Law of the Sea, already approved in general on the 4th of October in Lisbon, and according to which the management of the sea around the Azores and Madeira is the “exclusive responsibility” of the Republic.
The governments and parliaments of the two autonomous regions have issued negative opinions on this law, arguing that the Azores and Madeira should have a “shared management” of their sea with the Republic and not just the possibility of being consulted on this matter.
“It is a very complex issue, but one that we can and must solve, which is to know how the Republic and each of the autonomous regions are partners and not competitors, let alone rivals, in the management of marine spaces around each autonomous region,” said Augusto Santos Silva.
On this matter, the President of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores, Luís Garcia, told journalists that he remains hopeful that, between the vote on the specialty and the final global vote on the Law of the Sea, changes can be introduced that meet the wishes of the two archipelagos.
“I have, in fact, an expectation that everything is possible and that there is an attempt to find a solution to allow the Azores and Madeira to have a truly shared management of this sea,” stressed the President of the Azorean parliament, recalling that the two autonomous regions “do not intend to take anything from anyone, they simply intend to participate.”
Of the eight parties with parliamentary seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Azores, only five (PS, PSD, CDS-PP, PPM, and BE) were present at the meeting with Augusto Santos Silva, which took place in the plenary room at the headquarters of the parliament, in Horta, behind closed doors.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
