JPP deputy Filipe Sousa criticized the State Budget for 2027, stating that Madeira should not have to “stretch its hand” annually to Lisbon to solve its problems.
© Pedro Pina – RTP
08/10/2026
by
Lusa
O member of the Joint Parliament for the People (JPP) at the Assembly of the Republic, Filipe Sousa, today considered that the State Budget cannot imply that Madeira has to “stretch its hand” annually to Lisbon to solve the problems of Madeirans.
“ Financial autonomy cannot mean that every year those who govern Madeira have to go to Lisbon to extend their hand, for us there must be guarantees, clear and fair rules consecrated black and white ", says the only Member in a statement released on the JPP page:
This party, which is most represented in the parliamentary opposition of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira (occupied 11 of the 47 seats in the Chamber), says that “will evaluate the State Budget for 2027 not by the number of millions announced, but by what these millions represent and, above all, by what it effectively resolves in the lives of Madeirans”.
“ It's one thing to put money on paper. Another, quite different, is to solve the problems of Madeira and guarantee Madeirans the same rights and opportunities as the rest of the Portuguese ", says Filipe Sousa quoted in the document.
This party force argues that “the JPP will be in Parliament to make that distinction and to make proposals to correct the shortcomings of the State Budget for 2027 in relation to Madeira”.
Filipe Sousa notes the appropriations made public in the OE/2027 today delivered in São Bento, pointing out that the “transfers determined by law, compensation due to the Region (Autónoma da Madeira) or funds earmarked for debt reduction cannot be presented to Madeirans as if they were all new money and freely available for investment”.
The JPP states that the OE/2027 “represents millions to Madeira”, stressing that “a budget cannot be assessed only by the size of the figures announced: it must be assessed, above all, by the solutions it puts in the lives of Madeirans,”.
Filipe Sousa mentions that the current government’s budget proposal includes funds that will be allocated to Madeira, with €228.7 million foreseen under the Regional Finance Act, which adds some €79.9 million of exceptional transfer to compensate the Region for the absence of the Cohesion Fund.
It also provides for an amount of “€82 million for the reduction of regional debt alone, in addition to funds for employment and vocational training”.
The proposal and O/2027 still includes authorizations related to the new Central and University Hospital of Madeira and air resources for civil protection, mentions
But according to Filipe Sousa, “in the elements analyzed, no specific amount is set for 2027 in these two matters”
It also stresses that it does not specify aspects related to the Territorial Continuity Mechanism and the maritime connection of passengers and round cargo.
“ On these two important issues, we do not find in the Budget an express answer that definitely solves a problem that continues to affect thousands of Madeirans: ensure that the resident buys his air ticket by paying, from the first moment, only the final value that effectively competes with him and public funding that guarantees maritime links with Madeira ", argues.
For the deputy of the JPP, “this is not a budgetary detail, it is a matter of territorial continuity and equality between Portuguese.”
In his view, it is “unacceptable to talk about hundreds of millions of euros for Madeira and to continue without a clear, simple and definitive solution to such a basic matter as the right of Madeirans to move to continental territory without having to finance the system in advance”.
The Member ensures that the JPP “will also continue to advocate a serious revision of the Regional Finance Act, so that the financing of the Autonomous Regions is based on transparent, predictable and appropriate criteria for the permanent costs of insularity and ultraperiphery”.
The government today delivered to the Assembly of the Republic the proposal for a State Budget for 2027 (OE2027), before the deadline laid down by law.
The proposal will be discussed and voted on in general between 27 and 28 October. The overall final vote is scheduled for November 24, after the discussion process in the specialty.