The President of the Republic convened a meeting of the Council of State on December 11, after hearing today the parties represented in the Parliament of the Azores, following the failure of the 2024 regional budget.
According to a note published on the Internet on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, after listening to the parties, “decided to convene a meeting of the Council of State on December 11 in the Palácio de Belém”.
The note released this evening by the Presidency of the Republic states that the parties were heard “on the political situation in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, following the non-approval of the 2024 budget, including, in particular, on the matter contained in the provisions of paragraph j) of Article 133 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic”.
Pursuant to paragraph j) of Article 133 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic is responsible for “dissolving the Legislative Assemblies of the Autonomous Regions, after consulting the Council of State and the parties represented therein”.
Today, the President of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, of the PSD, and the other two parties in the governing coalition, CDS-PP and PPM, argued that early regional elections should be held, given the prospect of a new lead if a second regional budget proposal for 2024.
The budget proposal was generally rejected a week ago with votes against from PS, BE and IL and abstentions from Chega and PAN, after receiving only positive votes from the three parties that make up the regional government, PSD, CDS-PP and PPM , and independent deputy Carlos Furtado, former Chega.
The president of the regional government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, announced at the time that the executive planned to present a new budget proposal, but today he declared that this would be useless and argued that “a voice must be given to people” to achieve a governance solution “with stability”.
Article 15 of Law 79/98, the Budget Framework Law for the Autonomous Region of the Azores, provides that, if the Regional Legislative Assembly does not approve the budget proposal for the region, “the Regional Government shall submit it to the Regional Legislative Assembly in consultation”. new budget proposal for the relevant economic year within 90 days from the date of rejection”.
Immediately after the presentation of the regional budget proposal, the President of the Republic convened the parties with seats in the Parliament of the Azores.
The executive led by José Manuel Bolieiro no longer has parliamentary majority support since one of the two deputies elected by Chega became independent and the Liberal Initiative deputy broke with the respective parliamentary influence agreement in March this year.
The PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition government maintains a parliamentary advocacy agreement with Chega’s now sole deputy in the Azores parliament.
In the regional elections on October 25, 2020, the PS lost the absolute majority it had twenty years ago in the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores, despite still being the party with the most votes, with 25 out of 57 deputies. BE elected 2 deputies, PAN 1, while the CDU did not get anyone elected.
On the right, the PSD elected 21 deputies, the CDS-PP 3, Chega 2 – one of which has since become independent – the PPM also 2 and the Liberal Initiative one, forming a majority that has since disintegrated.
Source: DN
