Miguel Albuquerque visited the Alpha Publicidade company in Funchal, noting its need for expansion and the bureaucracy involved in accessing support.
Pedro Ascensão, co-founder of the seven-year-old company, highlighted the difficulties in obtaining aid due to the complexity and time required, stating that "the necessary time and bureaucracy are not worth it." Albuquerque acknowledged the issue, calling it "Byzantine bureaucracy," but recalled past fraud cases that led the European Commission to increase documentary requirements.
The Regional Government President advocated for changing the indexing of cohesion funds to GDP, arguing that ultra-peripheral and island regions like Madeira are penalized by their growth. Albuquerque pointed out that the island's income has doubled in ten years and RevPAR has tripled, yet it still faces structural disadvantages. "We are penalized for growing, this is stupidity, it makes no sense," he stated, calling for a revision of the Regional Finance Law.
