Madeira refuses to end its Golden Visa programme

Despite Portugal's decision, Madeira's President, Miguel Albuquerque, has refused to terminate the Golden Visa system.

During an interview with Diario de Noticias, he made these remarks.

“It is bad for the national economy. Nothing justifies Madeira being covered by this set of measures that are fundamentally aimed at Lisbon as well as Porto,” he pointed out.

The President emphasised that Madeira intends to continue offering the Residence by Investment Scheme, also known as the Golden Visa Program, to foreigners, claiming that it has made a substantial contribution to the country's economy.

Albuquerque indicated that he opposes the policies implemented by Portugal as part of the Mais Habitacao initiative, which he views as counterproductive, statist, and virtually Venezuelan.

He went on to say that Madeira's autonomy provided it both the competence and the authority to legislate on the subject.

If talks do not proceed as planned, Madeira's president has threatened to join Portugal's Autonomous Area, the Azores, in forming a united front against the central government's proposal. According to Albuquerque, the Azores are in the same condition.

“They don’t want these measures either. We were not consulted, and that is a shame. This was all decided centrally and without knowledge of the regional reality,” he pointed out.

Simultaneously, the President of the Azores, Jose Manuel Bolieriro, stated that the Autonomous Area will not relinquish political autonomy within the confines of legality and constitutionality.

While highlighting the scheme's enormous contribution to the country, Albuquerque stated that "you can't laugh about something so serious," citing the fact that the Golden Visa programme brought in over 600 million euros last year alone.

On February 16, officials in Portugal discontinued the Golden Visa Program as part of a larger package of measures to address the housing issue.

During a news conference, the Council of Ministers read out all of the measures included in the package, including the decision to scrap the widely criticised programme.

Portugal's Residence by Investment scheme allowed foreign investors to obtain residency by investing a certain amount of money in the country. Nonetheless, the Portuguese government was repeatedly asked to discontinue this programme.

Furthermore, the European Commission continues to urge all European nations who issue Golden Visas to cancel them as quickly as possible, following accusations that they allow those involved in illegal activities to benefit from the programme.

Together with Portugal, Ireland suspended its Golden Visa Scheme last month, becoming the second country to do so this year.

By fLEXI tEAM