The JPP issued a statement tonight asserting that the Regional Government has backtracked on the issue of Madeirans using the trails, following a “legitimate objection.”
“Following the public denouncement by Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP) regarding the PSD/CDS Regional Government’s position in denying access to the technical and scientific studies and documents on which the Albuquerque executive based its decision to ‘oblige any Madeiran to register in advance and make an online reservation to visit any natural space in their land’, this Sunday, the Government allegedly reversed course and backed down on its intentions,” the party states.
“This retreat is a clear acknowledgment that public protest was legitimate and necessary, and that the measure was unfair, disproportionate, and offensive to the people of Madeira, treating those who live and pay taxes in the Region as if they were foreigners in their own land,” states the press release, signed by MP Rafael Nunes.
The parliamentarian, who is also vice-president of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira (ALRAM) and signed the request in November to the Government, via Parliament, for access to the documents, “a legitimate claim that was never fulfilled, in clear disrespect for ALRAM”, adds that “the need to manage the territory and tourism well was never in question”.
“What we have always said,” he adds, “and now it is proven, is that you cannot use the excuse of management to take away rights from the people of Madeira, to force them to register, use platforms and make reservations to access their own nature; it was clearly an unacceptable abuse.”
With access to the studies, the JPP intended to find a “scientific basis for the imposed quotas.” “The Government’s response was that the document was only a preliminary report, which could not even be released. In other words, they wanted to impose restrictions on rights based on documents that the Government itself acknowledges were not even completed,” he criticizes.
For the JPP, governing is not about imposing “wills or dictating unquestionable orders, but about respecting people, the collective interest, and the principles of democracy.”
“The lack of planning, foresight, and preparation has led to hasty decisions, revealing incompetent governance. In the end, it is the people of Madeira who pay the price, increasingly treated as foreigners in their own land,” he states.
According to the largest opposition party, the retreat “does not erase the seriousness” of what happened.