Brussels, May 26, 2026 (Lusa) – Portugal will ask the European Commission to increase funding to €900 million for outermost regions (OMRs, remote European Union territories far from the mainland), such as the Azores and Madeira, as part of their funding.

The European Union (EU) “has not updated the OMR programme for a long time,” Portugal’s agriculture minister, José Manuel Fernandes, said.

He added that “currently, the Azores and Madeira, in the Portuguese case, get €700 million from the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF, the EU long-term budget), a 2% update yields around €900 million and this update is absolutely fundamental.”

The government will send a joint letter with Spain and France to the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, noting the need to update funding for the Programme of Options Specific to the Remote and Insular Nature (POSEI), an EU scheme supporting remote island agriculture, in the MFF (2028-2034).

He said this increase “stems from [the EU] treaties and no one can breach them.”

Fernandes told journalists on the sidelines of the EU agriculture ministers' meeting in Brussels that the milk and rice sectors were under heavy pressure on Tuesday, particularly due to easier imports in the latter case.

IG/LYT // ADB.

Lusa