“It was a productive, open conversation in which we discussed some of the issues we believe the Budget should address,” said Gonçalo Maia Camelo, deputy and regional leader of IL, after meeting with Madeira’s Finance Secretary Duarte Freitas in Funchal.
The government official today met with all parties represented in the regional parliament as part of the preparation for this year’s Budget proposal, given that the archipelago is operating under a provisional twelfths regime following a no-confidence motion passed in December, which led to elections in March.
Gonçalo Maia Camelo argued it is understandable that the proposal should be “similar to the one presented in December 2024,” given that it will again be a Budget of the Regional Government led by PSD, with “parts already executed, although there is no budget in the context of current management.”
IL urged that some proposals included in that budget draft “do not disappear, as some of them were important,” and communicated its priorities and points of disagreement.
“We believe that the tax relief could be more ambitious and broader than what seems to be proposed by the [Regional] Government,” emphasized Gonçalo Maia Camelo.
In his opinion, “effective and perhaps more disruptive, more ambitious measures in the areas of housing, health, and also mobility are necessary.”
IL expressed “some concern with the low execution and planning rates of support and incentives to companies—fundamentally, the management of community funds.”
Regarding previous budget proposals that he would like to see included, Gonçalo Maia Camelo mentioned that “there were some programmatic measures aimed at reducing state expenditure,” and it was even “foreseen that there could be no hiring of public employees unless it was to compensate for departures.”
“It also foresaw an assessment of the necessity of potential duplications of services and services that could be concentrated,” he indicated, asserting that the party does not intend “to extinguish anything; it wants resources to be better managed” and for there to be a “rationalization of the State.”
The Regional Budget for this year will be debated between June 16 and 20.
On December 9, the Madeira Budget proposal for 2025 presented by the Regional Government, led by social-democrat Miguel Albuquerque, was rejected in the insular parliament, with votes against from PS, JPP, Chega, IL, and PAN.
The only votes in favor came from PSD and CDS-PP benches, which had an insufficient parliamentary agreement to secure an absolute majority.
It was the first Regional Budget ever rejected by Madeira’s Legislative Assembly over almost 50 years of autonomy.
The rejected budget proposal had an estimated value of 2.611 billion euros, while the Investment Plan was budgeted at 1.112 billion euros.
A week later, on the 17th, a no-confidence motion against the Regional Government presented by Chega was approved, leading to the fall of the executive and the call for early regional elections.
On March 23, PSD managed to elect 23 deputies in a universe of 47 parliamentarians, later securing an absolute majority through a parliamentary agreement and government accord with the elected member of CDS-PP.
The Madeira Legislative Assembly is also composed of 11 JPP deputies, who became the opposition leaders regionally, a position almost always occupied by PS, which now has eight seats. Chega elected three parliamentarians, and IL one.
