In Lisbon, they vote against because they come from Madeira — DNOTICIAS.PT
On April 21, 2021, we presented at the Regional Legislative Assembly, by the JSD, a Bill of Law to the Assembly of the Republic that aimed to amend the Student-Athlete Statute, created in 2019, in order to safeguard some situations that our students go through -Athletes of Higher Education. This initiative essentially addresses the following issues: a) Identifying the status of student in the Autonomous Regions, recognizing the challenges they face; b) Guarantees the inclusion of these students in the statute through an improvement in the conditions of access to it, similar to what already happens with access to Higher Education; c) Include students who are registered in the national arbitration federations; d) Proposes the possibility of carrying out 4 annual exams in a special period; e) the possibility of carrying out all the assessment elements individually. In Madeira, the initiative was unanimously approved.
On the 20th of December, this proposal was granted in the Assembly of the Republic, where all parties announced their vote in favour, with the exception of the PS. In his justification, deputy Tiago Monteiro said that the proposal “does not support sufficiently capable and clean arguments, which could change the law without violating the principle of equality”. I do not know what the Honorable Member’s background is, but someone should explain to him that the principle of equality means treating what is equal as equal and different what is different. Someone who also explains to him that he is not exactly the same as a student from the islands takes part in a test that is perceived on the mainland when compared with a colleague from any other part of the mainland. It should be noted that no socialist deputy elected by Madeira had the courage to open his mouth and defend the young people of Madeira. On the contrary, they hid behind this deputy, as if the matter did not concern them.
If only the PS votes against in the vote that takes place today, there are three conclusions that can be drawn: 1) the positions of the PS/M are worthless for the mainland PS. Here they vote in favour, there they crouch and vote against. Let Miguel Iglésias say so, who voted in favor of this initiative and today will vote against it; 2) the PS/M deputies in the AR voted against an initiative that has no budgetary burden and that neither benefits nor harms anyone other than Madeiran students; 3) the PS makes a clean slate of Autonomy, going over a unanimous decision of the highest body of Regional Autonomy.
Why don’t they defend Madeira and the Madeirans when they should?
PS Madeira may find out next year, at the polls.