"This Budget fails to provide essential answers for the people. It fails, as the previous ones did, in terms of income for those who work and, therefore, poverty and inequality will not recede. It fails in building a resilient and qualified economy. It fails in terms of ecological response and energy transition", said António Lima.

The leader and deputy of the Azorean BE, who was speaking at the plenary session of the Parliament of the Azores, in Horta, at the beginning of the discussion of the Region's Plan and Budget for this year, recalled that the documents do not combat precariousness in the private sector and maintain "hundreds of precarious workers in the public administration".

It also has no answers to the housing crisis, while culture "is the target of contempt in the budget and in its execution, as well as in the absence of cultural policy".

António Lima said that it also fails in relation to the Regional Health Service and referred to the fire that hit the Hospital do Espírito Santo (HDES), in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, on May 4, stating that the parliament does not have, to date, "any report, however preliminary, of the damage caused to the infrastructure and equipment".

In his opinion, "the response to the fire is not in this Budget" and admitted that, "even without the response to the fire at the HDES, the health budget falls far short of what is needed".

"The path that this [Regional] Government has taken in health, the atrocious underfunding, is dragging the Regional Health Service into the abyss and into unsustainability. The fire at the HDES is a serious warning to stop and think before it is too late", warned the BE/Azores deputy.

The Plan and Budget of the Azores for 2024, with a value of 2,045.5 million euros, similar to the one presented in October 2023 (2,036.7 million), began to be debated today in the plenary session of the Regional Legislative Assembly, in Horta.

This is the second time that the regional coalition government led by José Manuel Bolieiro has presented a preliminary proposal for an Investment Plan for this year, after the previous one was rejected in the Legislative Assembly, in November, with the votes against of the PS, BE and IL and the abstention of Chega and PAN, which led the President of the Republic to call for early elections.

The PS is the second largest force in the archipelago, with 23 mandates, followed by Chega, with five. BE, IL and PAN each elected one regional deputy, completing the 57 elected officials.

In March, the Government's Programme was approved in the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores with votes in favour from the parties that make up the executive, abstentions from Chega, PAN and IL, and against from PS and BE.

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