Francisco César has indicated that the upcoming period “will not be easy,” and the Autonomous Region of the Azores faces “serious problems to solve,” particularly concerning public finances and air and maritime transport.
“Public finances are in a very worrying, unpleasant and degrading situation. The state of [airline company] SATA is unsustainable. The company is experiencing a structural collapse that currently goes far beyond a financial problem,” he stated during a speech at the opening of the Socialist parliamentary days in Furnas, in the Povoação municipality, on the island of São Miguel.
Regarding SATA, he acknowledged, “It’s not just about balancing the books anymore, it’s about saving the company.”
“It is, above all, about guaranteeing the Azoreans their right to mobility (…), to have a company that serves them, and it is, above all, about giving a word of hope to the workers who strive every day to keep the company flying,” he specified.
For the socialist leader, the current situation “in all modes of transport in the Azores is unworthy of a modern, European, and cohesive Autonomous Region.”
“Today, we have Azoreans who cannot leave their island because there is no plane, because the existing ones are full, because schedules are unsuitable, because there is no boat or ship, or because routes have been abandoned,” he said.
He added that there are sick Azoreans living on islands without hospitals, “waiting days, sometimes weeks, for an available plane seat to take them to appointments, treatments, or healthcare, which should be a guaranteed right and not a permanent uncertainty.”
In the business sector, he mentioned being aware of entrepreneurs “whose businesses are compromised due to ongoing delays in maritime freight transport.”
“There are islands where the ship does not arrive on time, where orders accumulate, where losses grow, affecting companies, entrepreneurs, workers, and local economies. Days and weeks pass, and the delays continue without the Regional Government fulfilling its responsibility to solve the problems,” he stated.
Francisco César noted that the most concerning issue is that the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition Regional Government “watches all this practically in silence, without structural solutions, with quick-fix patches, and emergency responses that resolve nothing in a lasting way.”
“It’s fair to say: there is no strategy, no courage, and above all, no leadership,” he declared.
He reminded that the PS has shown a willingness to find solutions to the cited problems, but given the absence of dialogue and cooperative work with the regional executive, the party will present alternative solutions.
The socialist leader announced the launch of the PS/Azores General States, a process of listening, participation, and collective proposal-building for the region’s future.
“We will launch the General States because we believe that only by listening to people and knowing the real problems can we present concrete solutions. The future is not awaited, it is built,” stated Francisco César.
Emphasizing the PS’s commitment to proximity governance with a reformist vision, he assured that the Azorean socialists would be wherever necessary, “whether in Lisbon or on every island of the Azores, to ensure that no Azorean is left behind.”
The PS/Azores parliamentary group is holding its Parliamentary Days today and Friday on the island of São Miguel, with particular focus on the municipalities of Povoação and Vila Franca do Campo.
