The Government of the Republic said today that it is working on the legislation for the model for granting the social mobility subsidy to avoid situations of inequality between residents, but assured that it was limited to applying the law.
“As a result of the report presented by the working group, the Government is working not only on clarifying the model for allocating the social mobility subsidy and its dematerialization through a digital platform, but also on standardizing legislation between the autonomous regions in order to, at the same time, avoid situations of inequality between resident citizens”, reads a joint note from the Ministries of Finance and Infrastructure and Housing.
The government’s reaction comes after CTT refused to pay the social mobility subsidy, granted on air links between the Azores and Madeira and between the two regions and the mainland, to immigrants residing in the autonomous regions.
At issue are the decree-laws that regulate the allocation of the social mobility subsidy in the two regions, published in 2015, which define as a requirement for access to reimbursement that passengers are “citizens of Portuguese nationality or of another Member State of the European Union or of any other State with which Portugal or the European Union have concluded an agreement on the free movement of persons”.
Family members of European Union citizens who “have acquired the right of permanent residence in Portuguese territory” or citizens of any State “with which Portugal has concluded an agreement on the general status of equality of rights and duties between Portuguese citizens and third countries” may also be considered resident passengers.
In the note sent today, the Government highlights that “no legal norm was changed or given a new interpretation, only a failure in the application of the law in the past was detected”.
The executive adds that, since taking office, “it has been intensifying control over the application of the social mobility subsidy” and that, following this reinforcement of supervision, it detected a flaw in its implementation “with regard to eligible beneficiaries”.
“In accordance with the law, workers who are nationals of EU Member States, the European Economic Area or any other country with which Portugal or the EU has concluded an agreement on the free movement of persons or on the general status of equal rights and duties are considered equivalent residents, and therefore, only these are eligible for the purposes of granting the social mobility subsidy”, reads the note.
The Regional Government of the Azores today defended a “clarification” of the law that regulates the social mobility subsidy, in order to guarantee that “all residents” in the region have the right to that support regardless of nationality.
“People have a tax number, pay their taxes, are residents and are legal in the Azores. For us, all residents must be treated equally and all residents are entitled to the mobility subsidy”, said the Secretary of Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructure to journalists, adding that she has already asked the Government of the Republic for clarification.
The president of the Association of Immigrants in the Azores (AIPA) considered that this is a “discriminatory measure” and called for its reversal.
“Considering that we are talking about people who have their tax residence in the Azores, who work here, live here and make their contributions to the State’s coffers, it is obviously a discriminatory measure that undermines the discourse of integration, interculturality, welcoming and valuing cultural diversity”, Leoter Viegas told Lusa news agency.