From autonomy to crisis
In 1976, Madeira became an Autonomous Region attached to Portugal. From this date, the archipelago collects its own taxes and manages the budgets for social affairs. In fact, only foreign policy and defence depend on Lisbon. The island thus came to have its own government, remaining relatively independent from the Portuguese metropolis. From 1978 to 2015, it is the same man, Alberto João Jardim, who presides over the autonomous government of Madeira, as the longevity of his "reign" has long been the subject of debate among critics, who do not hesitate to compare him to a dictator. However, he and his party (the PSD, the Social Democratic Party, of which there is a branch in every village in Madeira!) have ensured the archipelago's economic growth and the development of the island's infrastructure, particularly since Portugal joined the European Union (1986), when Madeira was granted the status of an outermost region, which enabled it to receive much-needed EU aid until 2006. Most of this aid was injected into road and hotel infrastructure, greatly increasing the island's tourist accommodation capacity. Thus, Madeira has gone from being a poor and neglected region to one of the richest regions in Portugal
An economy that is struggling to recover
As the financial crisis of 2008 hits the world and Portuguese Prime Minister José Socrates resigns in 2011 after having implemented highly unpopular austerity measures, the Madeira archipelago also finds itself embroiled in a financial crisis, which EU aid from the European Union fails to stem. In February 2012, in the midst of the debt crisis, Angela Merkel said Madeira is an example of the gross misuse of EU structural funds: "We have built tunnels and motorways without increasing competitiveness. ». In fact, the causes of the crisis in Madeira are mainly risky real estate investments and many construction sites initiated by Alberto João Jardim and then finally abandoned, all of a sudden with public funds and other juicy contracts.
The end of the Alberto João Jardim era
It was the questionable way in which Alberto João Jardim managed the island's budget that led him to resign in 2015. Early regional legislative elections were then held, allowing Miguel Albuquerque, current leader of the PSD and former mayor of Funchal, to become president of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. Although the situation has improved significantly since the crisis and the problem of poverty has now been replaced by "rich country problems" such as pollution and the destructuring of the landscape, unemployment in Madeira remains high and above the national average, at 7.3% at the end of 2022. Many inhabitants of the island continue to depend on social assistance (partly paid by the EU) and small seasonal jobs related to tourism. In fact, little Madeira is still heavily indebted (more than 6 billion euros), so much so that it is often singled out and described as the Greece of the Atlantic, for its staggering construction projects fueled by public funds
An agrarian economy
Thanks to its most fertile volcanic land and tropical climate, Madeira has historically found the tools for its development: agriculture has been a fact of life for 500 years and still today, almost alone, represents the primary sector of the archipelago (10% of the active population works in agriculture). In the 15th century, the privileged strata of the European population developed a taste for sugar, a luxury commodity that became highly sought-after, so much so that Portugal - like all the other European colonial powers - began to plant sugar cane on a massive scale to meet this demand. African slaves were moved from Cape Verde to the sugar cane plantations that soon covered Madeira. Of these intensive crops, only small plots of land remain today for the production of brandy (aguardente, Madeira rum) or the local gingerbread, bolo de mel, made from molasses. Cereals and vines are also traditional crops in Madeira, to which were later added flowers, of course, but also vegetables (cabbage, maize, carrots, climbing beans, tomatoes, salads and potatoes) and tropical fruit, with bananas (an essential commodity for Portugal, on which Madeira continues to be economically very dependent), pineapple, mango, guava and avocado. However, because of the island's steep relief and the virtual impossibility of motorised efforts, the development of these crops has been and continues to be a titanic task
Fishing and breeding
As animal protein, although there is no real cattle farming on the island (there are a few cows for milk, however), fishing is a substantial part of the diet of Madeira's inhabitants. While there are no ports on the north coast (devoid of any natural refuge and constantly exposed to the wind), there are five on the south coast. From east to west they are Caniçal, Machico, Funchal, Câmara de Lobos and Calheta. This fishing, which is still very traditional, is carried out using small colourful boats or on board rather old trawlers. Apart from tuna (50% of Madeira's fishing), bonito and pagoda, the star fish here is the espada, or sabre fish, a variety of eel typical of the archipelago's waters and which accounts for around a third of what the sailors catch. A good metre long, as thin as the wrist, of a beautiful anthracite black colour and armed with impressive teeth, it is fished using lines sometimes 1,500 m long and equipped with dozens of hooks: the espada is caught at a depth of around 1,000 m and brought to the surface, its eyes exorbed by decompression. Every evening, the espada fishermen leave the port, their lights merging with the stars in the open sea. Then every morning, and for more than a century, they unload their cargo at the market in Funchal or in the villages, transported in vans criss-crossing the countryside with loud speakers. In every restaurant and in every sauce, the espada is the undisputed master
