The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, marked the Day of the Autonomous Region of Madeira today through a written message celebrating regional autonomy and calling for ambition and inclusion.
“It is important to remember that autonomy, being a path of opportunities, needs ambition in public policies to be effective, particularly in promoting economic diversification and inclusion, while always ensuring democratic participation,” stated the text published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic.
In this message, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa begins by considering that “celebrating regional autonomy is a way to recognize the Portuguese specificity and, with this recognition, to reinforce national unity,” and also “a way to celebrate democracy and the democratic Constitution that enshrined the distinct regional identity.”
According to the head of state, “the Autonomous Region of Madeira faces specific challenges of insularity, and autonomy has allowed, in a logic of greater proximity, the construction of economic and social development, as well as the preservation of history, customs, and traditions.”
“While simultaneously ensuring the integration of the Region into the Portuguese Republic and the European project, which is fundamental for peripheral territories,” added the President of the Republic.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “congratulates all the Madeirans and Porto-Santo residents on another Day of the Region.”
The Regional Government of Madeira has been led since 2015 by Miguel Albuquerque, who succeeded nearly four decades of Alberto João Jardim in governing the region and leading the PSD of Madeira.
