Indefatigable Algarve Member of Parliament (MP) Mendes Bota is making a concerted bid for election to the European Parliament, telling voters that it could be just what the Algarve needs.
In a press release in his latest newsletter, he asks the pithy question: “If a region like the Algarve could have a say in the European Parliament – from a citizen born, bred and working in the Algarve – wouldn’t it be better than if it didn’t?”
Forever lamenting the lack of government support for the region, the PSD politician adds obliquely: “Should another region stripped of any power elect a representative for an institution that is so important for the future of Portugal?”
It is certainly a thought – and a challenge, for which, he says “all support is necessary, wherever it comes from”.
Even though he says it himself, Bota has excellent experience when it comes to Europe. He was a Euro MP for six and a half years (1989-1994 and 1998-1999) and has been a member for the European Council Parliamentary Assembly for 11 years (1988-1989, and since 2005).
In his latest release, he says he is ninth on the list of Euro candidates for the Portuguese Alliance (made up of PSD/CDS-PP politicians) and “the only Algarvian with the chance of being elected” among any of the other parties.
His 24-year career has seen him champion the cause of battered women, push for regionalisation for the Algarve and demand better conditions all round – particularly when it comes to “indignities” like the state of the EN125, or indeed the condition of the toilets on the Algarve rail network.
When the likelihood of exploration for oil and gas once again reared its head in 2011, Bota was quick to condemn the plans, saying they spelt disaster for the Algarve – and would bring little benefit to state coffers.
His opposition to the plans has quietened since then, but he remains vociferous on many other levels, including in support of small producers in Monchique who are being battered by the European Commission legislation regarding melosa – a honey-flavoured derivative of mountain medronho.
It remains to be seen if Bota’s bid for Europe succeeds. The elections at the end of May are being heavily featured throughout the media with snappy clips, like the one below, entitled: This Time It’s Different.
http://www.elections2014.eu/en
