A lot of people cant afford to pay the full price when booking tickets for a family, and having to wait for the money back.
This Monday, the JPP Secretary-General released an opinion issued by the PSD/CDS Regional Government, which states that “all beneficiaries will be able to obtain the Social Mobility Allowance (SSM) within a very short period of time, immediately after the ticket is issued.” In other words, adds Élvio Sousa, “Madeirans will continue to be guarantors of the State with the approval of the centralist PSD/CDS regional alliance.”
The opinion was requested by the Assembly of the Republic, as part of the PCP’s proposal, presented following the JPP’s legislative initiative, requiring Madeirans to pay only the SSM amount. “The Regional Government issues an unfavorable opinion on the entire proposal,” wrote Eduardo Jesus’ chief of staff.
The Government’s opinion states that “all beneficiaries will be able to obtain the SSM (Social Mobility Allowance) within a very short period of time, immediately after the date of issue of the ticket”.
This statement, in the opinion of the JPP leader, “is a disgrace, an outrage to the autonomous and citizenship rights of the Portuguese people of the autonomous regions.”
“In other words,” Élvio Sousa emphasizes, “this document clearly shows that the PSD/CDS regional government does not want to pay just €79 and €59 for trips to the mainland, but wants to force Madeirans to pay the full amount through a platform and then receive a refund within a very short period of time.”
Élvio Sousa associates the three PSD deputies elected to the Assembly of the Republic for Madeira “with a betrayal of the rights of Madeirans” for using the “miracle platform as bait to win votes.” “The PSD, both through the Regional Government and the three PSD deputies, are bent over and controlled by centralism,” he states. “They traded the rights and aspirations of Madeirans for an electronic platform that will continue to demand hundreds of euros from families and companies to travel within the country.”
Élvio Sousa says that from now on, “there are no doubts whatsoever” about how the PSD/CDS Regional Government “has been deceiving” the people of Madeira and Porto Santo. “Shamefully, and betraying their word, the PSD and CDS have already abandoned the upfront payment and are fueling the development of an electronic platform, with who knows what, with unreliable interests, to continue making Madeirans pay for all travel between the Region and the mainland,” he criticizes.
The leader of the largest opposition party believes that the Executive’s opinion, issued on July 16, “shows, in black and white, that this PSD/CDS government is in the hands of centralists who want to keep Madeirans and Porto Santo residents bearing the expenses and responsibilities of the State, to travel within their own country.”
The opposition leader says the PSD’s track record regarding the SSM is “bleak.” He recalls that it was the Regional Government that proposed a cap “that ended up inflating travel prices.” “Just read it; it’s all written in the preamble of the Ordinance regulating the SSM.” He also cites a news article published on June 4, 2015, “since deliberately erased from the digital archives of some media outlets,” in which the current Regional Secretary of Tourism, Environment, and Culture, Eduardo Jesus, announced that “with this Social Mobility Subsidy (SSM), residents will never pay more than 86 euros (now 79) for a ticket to travel to mainland Portugal—all false.”