"Citizens do not identify with the way in which legislative, executive and judicial powers are being exercised. The vast majority of citizens do not believe in institutions and their representatives and distrust the way in which their incumbents exercise their duties in their positions", stated José Manuel Rodrigues.

The president of the regional parliament spoke at the ceremonial session commemorating the 50th anniversary of April 25, which this year took place in the main hall, with the Legislative Assembly dissolved since March 27 following the political crisis triggered by the process investigating suspicions of corruption in the archipelago, in which the president of the PSD/CDS-PP executive, the social democrat Miguel Albuquerque, was constituted as a defendant.

José Manuel Rodrigues, who holds the position of president of parliament at the behest of the CDS-PP, stated that ignoring the discredit, disbelief and discontent of citizens is to enter a "state of denial".

"This will only lead us to a greater distance from institutions and their representatives in relation to the people who choose and elect them", he warned, and then reinforced: "I believe it is urgent to reform and modernize our political-constitutional system, which will lead to a reinforcement of our legislative, executive and judicial institutions, essential pillars of our democracy".

José Manuel Rodrigues defended that, following the early elections of May 26 in Madeira, the parties with representation in parliament must sign a pact for democracy and autonomy, aiming to revise the Constitution and expand the powers and legislative and fiscal competences of the autonomous regions.

"But it is crucial that this pact also involves deepening democracy in Madeira, introducing more transparency and integrity in the exercise of public office, through a regime of incompatibilities and a register of interests for deputies and government officials, establishing, clearly, the separation between political power and economic power and making the common good prevail over any particular interest", he declared.

The president of parliament recalled, in particular, the 19 thousand Madeirans who work, but receive a salary that is not enough to pay their basic monthly expenses, as well as the 73 thousand who live in poverty or social exclusion and the 13 thousand of our elderly with low pensions.

"The economic growth of Madeira and Porto Santo in recent years and the increase in Gross Domestic Product are indisputable, but it is also truly undeniable that we must continue to improve justice and equity in the distribution of the wealth created", he declared.

At the ceremonial session of the 50th anniversary of April 25, representatives of the nine parties with seats in the Legislative Assembly also spoke: PSD, PS, JPP, Chega, PCP, IL, BE and PAN, a party that signed an agreement of parliamentary incidence with the social democrats, making the coalition executive viable.

The social democratic deputy Vera Duarte stated that the PSD, the party that has governed the region since 1976, used democracy and autonomy to transform Madeira into one of the "most developed lands in Europe", while the socialist Victor Freitas considered that "April has yet to be fulfilled" because there has never been a political alternation in the government of the archipelago.

For the JPP, Élvio Sousa criticized the "imperialist and colonialist tics" of the State, declaring that "Portugal is not a unitary State", but "centralist".

Miguel Castro, from Chega, warned of corruption, which he considered to be the "main cause of the ethical corrosion of the institutions of government", a theme also focused on by the sole deputy of the PCP, Ricardo Lume, who warned of the "scandalous and unjust" distribution of wealth in Madeira.

The centrist deputy Lopes da Fonseca warned, in turn, that the region could go through a "period of government instability" after the elections of May 26 and classified as arbitrary the decision of the President of the Republic to dissolve parliament.

The sole deputy of PAN, Mónica Freitas, focused her speech on the defense of women's rights, while Nuno Morna, from IL, declared, in an intervention in poetic tone, that "April is not a month, it is a promise", and Roberto Almada, from BE, stated that the values of the revolution must "continue to be defended every day".

Leia Também: Representante da Madeira em 9.º? Albuquerque critica "má decisão" do PSD (Portuguese version)