The Regional Government of Madeira met with Chega, IL, and PAN in an attempt to agree on proposals for the executive’s new programme, to soon be presented to the Legislative Assembly. Representatives from the PS and JPP were also invited but announced that they would not be present on the grounds that the meeting was nothing more than a ‘stage” and “a farce.”
“We don’t go along with these stagings and these farces. And, therefore, we don’t have confidence in the Government, we don’t have confidence in Miguel Albuquerque and, therefore, our position remains,” Paulo Cafôfo told journalists on Saturday on the sidelines of a meeting of the PS/Madeira political commission at the party’s headquarters in Funchal.
For the socialist leader, “what is at stake is not the measures, what is at stake is precisely this PSD Government and its President, Miguel Albuquerque”.
For its part, the JPP said it does not want “to be part of a meeting where the participants do not have credibility in the use of the word, are not trustworthy and practice lies, with the help of the propaganda media which is subsidised by the region.”
In a statement released today, the Secretary General of the JPP, Élvio Sousa, said that the militants and members of the party decided, in meetings held on Saturday, that they would not participate in “secret meetings held behind the backs of the people”.
On Wednesday, Miguel Albuquerque announced the withdrawal of the discussion of the Government’s programme that would be rejected in the Madeiran parliament the following day, since PS, JPP, and Chega, which add up to a total of 24 deputies out of the 47 that make up the chamber.
Last Thursday, the Madeiran executive indicated, in a statement, that it had invited all parties with parliamentary seats to a meeting on Monday to agree on proposals for the executive’s programme.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
