European Parliament
Nuno Teixeira  (PPE ).
(PT)
Madam President, last week in Portugal was indelibly scarred by statements by, firstly, the President of the European Parliament, who criticised the establishment of economic ties between Portugal and Angola, saying that the country would be condemned to decline, and, secondly, Chancellor Merkel, who used the example of Madeira to criticise the application of the Structural Funds during a public speech in Berlin. I believe both of these statements were profoundly unfortunate and unjust, to put it mildly. In the first case, clarification has already been provided by the President of the European Parliament, who claimed to have been misinterpreted. To this day, there has been no retraction of the second statement. The facts show that the exact opposite is the truth and, above all, that Madeira and its people deserve dignity and respect; these are required and demanded, since it is true that it is EU aid that has forcibly dragged Madeira up to level pegging with other regions.

