Azores: Agriculture and Ryanair demonstrate “lack of credibility”

O leader of PS/Açores said today that the failure to pay 23 million euros to farmers and the departure of Ryanair from the Azores demonstrate the “lack of credibility” of the Regional coalition government PSD/CDS-PP/PPM.

“There are promises of 23 million [EUR] that are undone after the elections. There are promises to farmers of payments that arrive, either later or never,” said the Socialist leader in the Azores, Francisco César, in the margins of a meeting with the Agricultural Federation of the Azores, held in the framework of the Parliamentary Days of the Party.

The Socialist criticised the failure to implement the extraordinary support promised to agriculture, recalling that the governments of the Republic and the region ensured that legal and financial conditions existed to ensure the payment of EUR 23 million.

According to RTP/Azores, during the discussion of the State Budget in the specialty, the Minister of Agriculture said that the European Commission’s authorisation to pay support to farmers because of the war in Ukraine “deceased in 2024.”.

Today, Francisco César recalled that the current government officials made the commitment during the election campaign, “after criticizing the former socialist government for the lack of a response to Azorean farmers, considering that they had the opportunity to make payments while there was a legal framework for this.”.

For the leader of the PS/Azores, quoted in a press release, the EUR 23 million “represents a fundamental support for farmers, but a reduced effort for the State Budget”.

The politician also pointed out the departure of Ryanair from the Azores as another example of “lack of trust” in the actions of the Regional Government, recalling that the executive “has devalued for months the possibility of the company leaving the region, ensuring that it would be replaced by other operators, while tourism faces a prolonged fall in activity”.

On Tuesday, Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, said that in the Azores, “the problem was that they broke the contract,” adding that the company “does not do business with those who break contracts.”.

Francisco César today demanded that the president of the Regional Government, social democrat José Manuel Bolieiro, “clarify what happened, considering that this responsibility cannot be referred to Visit Azores”, the association responsible for promoting tourism in the Azores.

The political responsibility for the actions of the Regional Government is collective and begins with its president, arguing that the Azoreans “need answers and political leaders who make the commitments and decisions made,” he said.

The Regional Secretary of Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructure, Berta Cabral, said today that she will invite those responsible for Ryanair to visit the Azores, ensuring that “there was no contractual breach by Visit Azores with the airline.

At a press conference, Berta Cabral, said that “Tomorrow [Thursday] itself, the Regional Government will make a letter inviting the CEO of Ryanair to come to the Azores to open the dialogue, the most important part”.

The governor also assured that “it has always been available for dialogue”, which took place between the airline and Visit Azores, and spoke “in contradictions in the arguments put forward by Ryanair itself, who stated by its owner that it abandoned [the Azores] for issues related to airport charges and all the standards that the European Union imposes”.

It noted, however, that it considers the statements of the Ryanair manager as “opening signs to return to the Azores”, stressing that “that’s the positive part”.