The Regional Government presented on Monday morning the draft bill for the Annual Regional Plan for 2011 to the social partners that integrate the Strategic Cooperation Council.
Speaking at the end of the meeting held in Ponta Delgada, the President of the Government emphasised that the current international context is characterised by a strong instability which is reflected on the Portuguese economy, and therefore the constraints to the revenues derived from planning in the Region are unknown, particularly with regard to the implementation of the Regional Finance Act of the, which Carlos César expects to be put into effect.
Reminding that the revenues derived from this law and other contributions of the State Budget correspond to nearly 33% of regional receipts – as the remaining proceed from internal receipts - the President of the Government stressed that the Government has decided to chose a framework almost identical to the previous year, thus promoting, through the allocation of public investment, the receipts from Community funds.
This plan, he said, meets the Government’s expectations of not exceeding the revenue volume in the estimated expenditure; the 509 million-Euro plan (the estimated total amount of the 2010 Plan was 516 million Euros) corresponds to an overall investment of 804 million Euros, including the public business sector.
“Regarding the financial context nationwide, these amounts are very important and correspond to a stabilisation in the Azores in view of the external instability; therefore, we estimate some gains resulting from our ability to preserve the amount of investment and public expenditure, which will be invested in the most profitable sectors,” stated Carlos César.
By assuring the stability of regional finances, the goal is to “invest in areas that reinforce regional sectors, our competitiveness in logistics, innovation, training and improvement of accessibility, with special emphasis on the support to the export sectors that are an added value for our region. We will also stimulate the use of renewable energy.”
On the other hand, Carlos César said that the Government believes that given the current difficulties affecting both companies and families, it is important to maintain the capacity to allocate resources to support these companies and these families, thus ensuring the support to social cohesion.
“We want that this plan be also a tool to accomplish our goal: we have converged, whether in terms of receipts or of product, to for the national European and averages, and this is what intend to carry on,” said the President of the Government.
Furthermore, Carlos César expects that, in the first place, the country has a state budget - which it considers vital - and that, secondly, this budget positively responds to the implementation of the Autonomous Regional Finance Act. He also stressed that “the transfers to the Azores and Madeira are not relevant to the budget balance.”

The President of the Regional Government concluded that the contribution to the country, in particular from the Azores, is a good example of the national solidarity which is now due and should be continued. Given the unpredictability that currently involves the approval of the State Budget and its respective measures, “this will obviously influence the confirmation or revision of the assumptions of our plan proposal at this stage.”