The leader of CDS / Madeira, PSD’s partner in the Regional Government, makes a positive assessment of the first 100 days of governance and highlights the “good relationship” between the elements of the executive “, although he admits that there were” moments of tension “.
“Coexistence has been going well. I think the balance is positive ”, declared Rui Barreto, the centrist who holds the position of secretary of Economy in the XIII Government of Madeira, in an interview with the Lusa agency.
The executive, who took office last October 15 and who has been in office on Wednesday for 100 days, emerged from the September 22 elections, in which the PSD lost for the first time the absolute majority it always held in Madeira (elected 21 47 deputies for the Legislative Assembly) and made a coalition agreement with the CDS, a party that guaranteed three parliamentarians, to ensure that they remain in power.
The Madeiran parliament is also made up of 19 deputies from the PS, three from the JPP and one from the PCP.
Rui Barreto said that the CDS has always “worked in the opposition” and that the arrival of the party to the Regional Government “is a new time”.
The official considers that the Madeiran executive “must be one – it is not the sum of nine secretariats, it is a government that has an organic, a program, that wants to take things forward”.
“Therefore, I must say that both I and Teófilo Cunha [que também representa o CDS no executivo, com as pastas do Mar e das Pescas] we have verified that the environment is good, there is a spirit of mutual help, solidarity and sharing ”, he described.
In this “new experience” also for the population, because there was never a government of the two in the archipelago, it is “natural that the two parties in power are not always in agreement” and there were already those who spoke of rupture, due to disagreements over the area of health, in which the CDS has been committed.
“I said that I don’t need to agree with my coalition partner every day to be globally satisfied with the solution we found”, stressed Rui Barreto, explaining that in these statements “I was saying that I did not agree with some things that were happening ”.
However, it has already been spoken to the President of the Regional Government, Miguel Albuquerque, so that after the Regional Budget (under discussion between today and Thursday) the necessary leaders are appointed and the sector “really starts to work”, because it needs “stability, trust, the plan and the action”.
Regarding his work, the regional secretary explained that these first 100 days of governance “have been very hectic”, because he oversees a new secretariat and “it is necessary to set up a structure” to make the seven areas of the economic area that he has responsibility .
The future of the coalition government project does not scare him: “I feel that there is trust, that people want it, I feel that we really want PSD and CDS, that the government comes to an end, not at any cost and at any price”.
Rui Barreto is aware that the project “is not a walk in the park” and will continue to appear, “sometimes, some moments of tension and difficult moments”. However, there has been, “in de facto situations that are limit, an availability, an openness, a willingness to dialogue”.
“Nobody turns their backs on each other. I prefer to manage disagreements than walk in disruptions ”, he stressed.
It is because there is dialogue and a joint desire to find solutions that he believes that the executive will continue throughout the legislature.
At the end of the four years, I would like the Madeirans to say “we were very suspicious in the beginning, now”.
“The best prize is the recognition that was worth it”, he concluded.
Historic deal required gymnastics and cold blood
According to Barreto, governance in Madeira is experiencing a “historic moment” and learning with the coalition formed in 2019, after negotiations that demanded “cold blood” and “a lot of gymnastics”.
“It is a new experience for everyone, it is an apprenticeship in the exercise of government and, therefore, not everyone, at all times, can understand things, because it is the first time and it is historical [ter] a coalition government in Madeira between two parties ”, declared the regional secretary of Economy.
On the electoral night, the PSD / Madeira leader invited the CDS for a governance agreement, aiming to ensure power in the archipelago.
“It was an approaching scenario. We had never experienced any other form of governance without being a majority government of the PSD and it is natural that there would be wear and tear, as we have seen, ”stressed Rui Barreto.
The CDS considers that it suffered from the effect of bipolarization, given that there were two parties (PSD and PS) competing for the political center – “for the first time, it was at stake who would win the elections”.
In this context, he said, “the CDS was penalized by the useful vote of those who wanted the PSD to continue to govern or those who wanted an alternation of power for the PS”.
“I must say, however, that in the regional parliament the CDS is the only party on the right,” he said.
The coalition agreement “forced a strong negotiation”: “If the people had given more strength, they would have negotiated more”, he admitted, recognizing that there were moments of tension and that the actors were not always in agreement, as is “natural” .
The process demanded “cold blood, a lot of persistence, a lot of temperance and a lot of sense of thinking in general and not blocking on particular issues”.
These types of situations, he said, require “a lot of gymnastics, negotiation, commitment, investing a lot in understanding and not looking at every discord or every non-convergence for ruptures”.
Asked about the portfolios that the CDS supervises (Economy, and Sea and Fisheries) and the fact that he did not stay with Saúde, one of the flags of the opposition party, the leader of the CDS / Madeira replied that “it was the solution of the people available for the exercise of highly demanding functions, which is to belong to a government ”.
“The CDS wants is that what is in the program be globally fulfilled, because that is our main purpose”, he declared.
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