2021 marks the 45th anniversary of the political and administrative autonomy of the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira.

The national political context that was experienced in 1976 finally allowed the materialisation of an old aspiration of the Atlantic islands, not only fair but essential for their economic and social development. The creation of self-governing bodies, legitimized by the will of the peoples in these islands, was not an easy achievement. The constituent deputies representing the four autonomous districts – three Azoreans and one Madeiran – were confronted with a strong centralist reaction from various continental political sectors, quite oddly and maybe those who pride themselves of defending democratic values.

Forty-five years later, the political and administrative autonomy of the Azores and Madeira continues to be and will be a reality, consolidated by the will and persistence of its people.

The Autonomous Region of the Azores is starting a new stage in its autonomic process. The third. The first ten years, which corresponded to the creation of the political structure of the autonomous region, were a period of huge financial difficulties. The requirements were many, in a region where, until then, development circumvented the region and only visited it when the circumstances of the Portuguese strategic interest dictated its use, on occasion and without meeting the real needs of the Azoreans. Thus, between 1976 and 1986, the major infrastructures for maritime and air transport were built, a very fragile road network was modernized, several islands were allocated hitherto non-existing health equipment and the education network was resized. Even with the strong earthquake in 1980, which dramatically affected the islands of Terceira, São Jorge and Graciosa, political and administrative autonomy followed its course.

The second phase corresponded to the European integration. With the accession of Portugal in 1986, the Azores also became part of the European Communities as it was known back then. And the conditions of the economic and social development process have improved significantly. The European regional policy, aimed at leveraging the “per capita” GDP of regions with levels of that indicator significantly below the Community average, brought a new acceleration to the development of the Azores. At the same time, after the remarkable political work by the regional leaders with their respective States and community institutions, the island regions furthest from the European continent had their status of outermost region duly recognized. And the Azores were there. With Madeira.

Outermost region is a concept that results from the need for regions with specific characteristics, which have permanent disadvantages in view of their integration into the European single market, to overcome these disadvantages through European Union policies. These policies can be translated into the adoption of specific programs – the case of POSEI – Programme of options specifically relating to remoteness and insularity – or the adaptation of the European Union’s legislative acquis to the special circumstances of outermost regions. In 1996, this was the path we were preparing.

For twenty-five years, the Azores experienced an apparent tranquillity, in the shadow of the effort produced in the initial period – with the basic infrastructures completed -, and the significant reinforcement of the European Union’s financial support, the result of the Union’s desire to promote harmonious development from all its regions. However, the failure to adopt structural policies in the Region resulted in a deficient use of the resources made available by Europe, keeping the Azores at the lowest levels of the development ranking of European regions. It was, therefore, a period of autonomous survival, without real political gains being seen, in the name of the economic and social development of the Azores.

We now have a major opportunity to start a new phase in the life of the Azoreans, with a new political leadership, with new ideas and a new governmental impetus, and with the particular mark of this resulting, for the first time, from a multi-party political program. José Manuel Bolieiro, the President of the Government of the Azores, has the mission to reconnect the Azoreans, with its nine islands, and to build new paths of political dialogue, both with the sovereign bodies of Portugal and with the institutions of the Union European Union, through a process based on the principle of subsidiarity, acknowledged and stated by both the Portuguese Constitution and by the European Treaties.

The Azores are an outermost region of the European Union. But we may be also central for Europe. The Atlantic centrality, so dear to the geopolitical dimension, that affirms Europe in the World. We establish the western frontier of the Old Continent and that frontier is an essential link with the Americas and Atlantic Africa. We may thus resume an historical mission, using the means that are there to build the future.