In view of the news about a Report of the Court of Auditors concerning an audit to the granting of subsidies to agriculture by IAMA (Institute for Food and Agricultural Markets) in 2009, the Presidency of the Regional Government of the Azores clarifies the following:
1. All the support allocated by the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Forestry to organisations or entities in the agricultural sector has always benefited, directly or indirectly, Azorean farmers.
2. The allocation of such support, representing the fulfilment of the commitments made or the emerging and undelayable resolution of the constraints and difficulties in the sector, has always met the criteria of publicity, impartiality and transparency, having always been subject to prior publication in the Official Journal of the Region.
3. In some cases, the political parties in the Azores, PSD in particularly, have made parliamentary interventions, promoted press conferences and presented requirements defending the allocation of the support measures in question. Now, before the overwhelming evidence that the commitments were met, PSD, forgetting all the claims on these matters, complains about the lack of transparency, revealing its opportunism and hostility towards the Regional Government.
4. Therefore, the Government will firmly maintain the support to agriculture and Azorean farmers, complying with its obligations, as it has always done. In the context of its constitutional and statutory powers, the Government will enhance the legislation on the legal framework of the aforementioned support measures even though they do not have any influence in the transparency of the support already allocated.