New regime of social mobility subsidy
The Council of Ministers approved the Decree-Law that defines a new model for the attribution of the social mobility allowance to resident passengers, equivalent residents and students, users of regular air services between the continent and the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira and between these regions, complemented by inter-cheering maritime services, continuing objectives of social and territorial cohesion and suppressing the territorial cohesion Differentiation of regimes that has been in force so far.
The current model, in force since 2015, offers a variable value allowance by travel, reimbursed after proof of passenger eligibility for the study of a new model that more fairly promoted economic and social and social cohesion of the Autonomous Region (RAM) and the Autonomous Region of the Azores (RAA), aiming to reduce the costs of residents of residents, residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents and residents displaced students.
This decree-law creates a uniform and unique legal regime, in view of the objectives of simplification, efficiency and equal treatment between the autonomous regions, taking into account the recommendations of the working group created through a joint order of the Minister of State and Finance and the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, such as:
Harmonization of regimes in RAA and RAM; Maintenance of the current maximum value model supported by passengers and maximum eligible cost, with any revision of the reference values; Dematerialization of the process with the implementation of an electronic platform that makes the full management of the process of assignment assignment, eliminating the bureaucracy, and allowing the reduction of the risk of fraud; Creation of the necessary conditions for the payment by the beneficiaries, only the final net amounts, already deducted the amount of the subsidy, when the purchase of the ticket. Without losing sight of this objective and whether the realization of it proves to be taken, to adopt a provisional solution that allows significantly to anticipate the moment of reimbursement, considering it in the days following the date of ticket acquisition; The future development of a partnership with financial entity (s) in order to attribute to all beneficiaries, who intend it, a deferred debit card; More comprehensive supervision / inspection in transactions carried out by intermediaries.
This decree welcomes and consolidates in a uniform regime, applicable, to both RAA and RAM, the concerns manifested regarding the eligibility of non-Portuguese residents, namely in the recent initiative of the Azores Regional Legislative Assembly, which materialized with the amendment of Decree-Law 41/2015, of March 24, promoted by Law 12/2025, of 19 February.
In this sense, the government will make available on the Government portal the publication of the Working Group report, with a view to framing the options taken.
For the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, it is to promote social and territorial cohesion: “Social Mobility Subsidy is, no one today denies it, an important milestone for social cohesion. It serves to bring the various portions of the national territory closer, surpassing historical contingencies and geographical conditioning ”, also recalling the impact on the mitigation of insularity, in specific, among younger generations, who live on the islands and study on the continent, or vice versa:“ It is also a very relevant measure to support new generations, the fact of underlining in a country as our incentives, which young people ».
