The president of the Regional Government, Miguel Albuquerque, voted at the end of this morning at Escola da Ajuda. On speaking to journalists he expressed his hope that people would vote in the European elections since the European Union project “is under threat at the moment” because of “radicalism, demagogues, charlatans, and compulsive liars.”
“We have great challenges ahead,” namely in the fight against radicalism and “ignorance,” Albuquerque said, acknowledging that Europe has to assume a position of “economic growth and industrialisation.”
The likelihood of Madeira losing European representation through the PSD is, for Albuquerque, “a step backward in relation to what was the intelligent and far-sighted position of the PSD for many years, which has always made a point of having representatives of the region in the European Parliament.”
“At this moment, we have to start the steps for the negotiation of the next European framework, and the fundamental principle is to maintain, in Europe, both the specificity of the outermost regions that are included in the treaty and the principle of economic and social cohesion,” said the President of the Regional Government, arguing that the cohesion fund must continue to ensure equal opportunities.
Albuquerque denies that the position occupied by Rubina Leal on the AD list has led to a lesser commitment of the Madeiran structure in the campaign of these elections, and says that the important thing, at this moment, is to appeal to the participation of the Madeirans and Porto Santo in these elections.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
