The 2018 State Budget has provided the Participatory Budget of Portugal (OPP) with a budget of five million Euros, of which 625 thousand Euros will allocated to the implementation of projects in the Azores.
 
This year, and considering that the first edition of the Participatory Budget of the Azores (OP Açores) is underway, the Region has more than 1.2 million Euros at its disposal for the implementation of public investment projects proposed by citizens.
 
The Participatory Budget of Portugal, like OP Açores, does not restrict the residence of proposing citizens. It is open to ideas submitted by all national or foreign citizens legally residing in Portugal, aged 18 years and over, in all areas of governance.
 
This week, two participatory meetings will take place in the Azores. They will be attended by the Assistant Secretary of State and Administrative Modernisation.
 
The meetings, open to all interested parties, will be held on April 19 at 6 PM at the Agrarian Development Services of São Miguel in Ponta Delgada and on April 20 at the Ramo Grande Auditorium in Praia da Vitória at 5:30 PM.
 
Proposals may be submitted until April 24 at the electronic address https://opp.gov.pt or at the participatory meetings. After being validated, they will be available for consultation on the OPP Internet site. The voting phase takes places between June 11 and September 30.
 
The Regional Government, as partner of the National Government for the implementation of the OPP in the Region, invites all citizens to present investment ideas in all areas of governance.
 
In the first edition of OPP, which included proposals in the areas of Justice and Internal Administration, there were four winning Azorean projects, which corresponded to a public investment of 400 thousand Euros in the Region.
 
So far, more than 450 proposals have been submitted online and at the participatory meetings by citizens from all over the country. A total of seven have been submitted by citizens living in the Azores in the areas of Culture, Education, Sport and Youth, Equality and Citizenship, Justice and Health.
 
The Participatory Budget of Portugal aims to strengthen the quality of Democracy, involve citizens in decision-making processes and stimulate economic and social cohesion, fostering the emergence of projects linking people from different territories.