President of the Madeira Assembly calls for expansion of the powers of the Autonomous Regions in the new legislature

The president of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, José Manuel Rodrigues, expressed to the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar Branco, the need to exist in this new legislature a revision of the Constitution that expands the powers of the Autonomous Regions.

For José Manuel Rodrigues, among the priorities must be legislative, fiscal changes and “competences over the sea and the Exclusive Economic Zones of the two Regions [Madeira e Açores]”.

In a meeting between the presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of Madeira and the Republic, held last week, José Manuel Rodrigues also asked José Pedro Aguiar Branco, to be given “special attention” to the finance law of the Autonomous Regions.

“Because the State has been taking no responsibility, from a financial point of view, for its tasks and responsibilities towards the Portuguese people of Madeira and the Azores. There are costs of sovereignty and insularity that are the responsibility of the State and that are being paid by Regional Governments and that must be assumed by the Republic”, said José Manuel Rodrigues.

The president of the Madeira Assembly also considered that “it is possible to go further” in the hearing process that the Assembly of the Republic carries out with Regional Parliaments, especially with regard to the legislative process.

“The euthanasia law was a matter of the previous mandate, which the Assembly of the Republic did not hear from the regional parliaments of Madeira and the Azores. I made the President of the Assembly of the Republic aware of the need to enforce the duty of hearing the Autonomous Regions, on all matters, but especially on those that have an impact on our archipelagos”, added José Manuel Rodrigues.