Lisbon, Oct. 30, 2025 (Lusa) — The presidents of the regional governments of Madeira and the Azores on Thursday welcomed the creation of a working group to review the Regional Finance Law (LFR), describing it as a historic step towards strengthening the regions' autonomy.
"I think it's a decisive step towards establishing, after 50 years of the institution of political autonomies - one of the greatest achievements of Portuguese democracy - (...) a consolidated and adult relationship with regard to the relationship that should exist between the autonomies and the Central State," said the president of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque (PSD).
The Madeiran president's statement was made after a cabinet meeting, during which he participated alongside his counterpart from the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, following the approval of draft resolutions relating to the two archipelagos and the decision to create a joint working group to bring a new LFR to parliament in 2026.
"At the moment, the Regional Finance Law is iniquitous, an anachronistic law that needs to be changed quickly. In this sense, I would like to welcome the prime minister's vision, his decisiveness, in creating a working group to put an end to an uncomfortable situation," emphasised Miguel Albuquerque.
According to the president of the government of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, these changes allow us to reflect "the costs of insularity, transport, education, health and other areas such as civil protection".
"We, the presidents of governments, can no longer play the role of mendicants here, on a via sacra demanding money," he pointed out.
In the same vein, the president of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, considered that the creation of this working group represents "a paradigm shift" in the "functioning of the state with the autonomies".
"We are living through a historic moment in Portuguese democracy and in the understanding of the Portuguese rule of law with its political autonomies, because it makes the transition from an often understood tutelage autonomy to the understanding of a participatory autonomy," said the Azorean leader.
According to José Manuel Bolieiro, the amendment to the Regional Finance Law will ensure "more predictability, stability, regularity and efficiency" to the autonomous regions.
Bolieiro also expressed his "full satisfaction at having taken part in this historic moment", stressing that the prime minister "values the political autonomies of a decentralised country for their participatory vocation".
The creation of the working group, which will include representatives from the governments of the Republic, Madeira and the Azores, was approved today by the cabinet.
The prime minister also announced that the first summit between the three governments - all led by the PSD - will be held in the Azores at the beginning of 2026. The summit was planned for the end of 2024, but was postponed due to political crises, first in Madeira and then on the mainland.
"We will then regularly try not only to promote these forums for coordination between the governments, but also to hold the summits themselves, which can be an opportunity for us to endorse many joint decisions" to serve the interests of the Autonomous Regions and Portugal "as a whole", he said.
Montenegro described the participation of the presidents of the Regional Governments in a cabinet meeting for the first time as "an important milestone in the institutional relationship and in the articulation and partnership" between the Governments of the Republic and the Governments of the Autonomous Regions.
The cabinet also approved draft resolutions on the implementation of the Atlantic CAM project, to install submarine cables between the mainland and the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores.
Draft resolutions were also approved regarding the costs of the "Azores Marine Park" project and the nomination of the city of Ponta Delgada as the "Portuguese Capital of Culture" in 2026.
FAC/ADB // ADB.
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