"On this occasion, I want to express to Miguel Albuquerque, on behalf of the national PSD, all the luck and all the spirit of cooperation for all these electoral challenges" that the party will face in Madeira, declared Luis Montenegro in a video message sent for the 19th PSD/Madeira congress that is taking place this weekend in Funchal.

The also prime minister, who is not participating in this great PSD/Madeira meeting because he has a trip to Cape Verde, considered that the recently elected PSD of Madeira have, in the next two years, a "political work" that "will be intense", starting with the regional elections, then the European elections and next year the local elections.

"These are all enormous challenges to which the support and cooperation between the Autonomous Region of Madeira and the Government of the Republic are naturally added", he added.

Luis Montenegro wished that "Madeira continues to be a beacon of orientation for what are the PSD policies, the social-democratic policies that transform people's lives, guarantee true equality of opportunities, that promote economic growth as the way, as the presupposition for us to have more social justice".

In this recorded message, also "on behalf of the Government", he assured that he will be "by the side of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, as well as the Azores, in the deepening of the regional autonomies that has been a path taken in various circumstances".

He also highlighted the "commitment" to have "a very close strategic cooperation relationship in being able to guarantee, which is often by delegating to the governing bodies of the autonomous regions that we better serve the interests of the country and of the people who reside, work or visit the autonomous regions".

Luis Montenegro considered that there are "many examples of what are advances in the deepening of autonomies".

"We will continue to do so from the legislative point of view, from the constitutional point of view - when there is such an opportunity -- but, above all now, from the point of view of the relationship between the governments of the Republic and the governments of the autonomous regions", he reinforced.

According to the national leader, "there are all the reasons for the Autonomous Region of Madeira, the people of Madeira and Porto Santo to continue to trust in what has always been the engine of the region's development, the PSD".

"There is no doubt that we are not in a time for adventures, we are not in a time to change what is a trajectory of prosperity, a trajectory of greater social justice, a trajectory of equal opportunities", he defended.

The national structure of the PSD will be represented at this regional congress by the secretary-general, Hugo Soares, on Sunday, at the closing session.

Another absence at this great meeting is Alberto João Jardim, who led the PSD/Madeira for almost four decades, who is in the Azores where he participated in a commemorative session of the 50th anniversary of April 25.

Leia Também: PSD/Madeira. Albuquerque quer união para enfrentar as eleições regionais (Portuguese version)