“According to the latest estimates, around 400 children are without a spot in nurseries in the Azores,” stated Francisco César in a press release from the party.
The socialist leader, who met this morning with the Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Madalena’s management on Pico Island, noted that in that particular Azorean municipality, “there is a waiting list with 22 children.”
“This is a serious and real issue affecting families that cannot continue to be ignored,” he stated.
After acknowledging the efforts made by institutions such as Private Institutions of Social Solidarity, Santas Casas da Misericórdia, and private entities, “who have done everything within their reach to provide solutions,” Francisco César warned that “there are no miracles when infrastructure does not expand and the [Regional] Government does not invest.”
He also highlighted that, despite having more than 2 million euros allocated in the Regional Budget and the Investment Plan for nursery investments, “the execution rate is only 12% according to the latest known data.”
This indicates that “for every 100 euros the [Regional] Government has available for nursery investment, only 12 are spent. The rest are promises that remain unfulfilled,” he observed.
The PS/Açores leader further recalled that the party has presented concrete proposals to address the shortage of nursery places in the Azorean archipelago.
“We proposed the construction and expansion of nurseries, increasing the number of childminders, and maximizing the use of existing infrastructures, but these proposals were either rejected or simply remained unimplemented,” he pointed out.
For Francisco César, the explanation lies in the “management incapability and the evident financial fragility” of the coalition executive, whose consequences “directly affect people’s lives.”
In his opinion, solving the problem does not involve “removing children from nurseries so that others may take their place.”
He argued that “construction is necessary to solve the problem,” but the current Regional Government, “unfortunately, does everything but solve problems.”
“This year, more children were born in this municipality [Madalena] than in the previous year, and what should have happened was an increase in public investment, but the only increase we see is in promises and paper investments. This is a government with 100% promises and 0% execution,” he concluded.
