Peter Groen will meet with Liliana Rodrigues this evening, probably as I am writing this. Below is a post he shared on his Facebook account, and he will report the out come later.
Lets wish him luck.
All right. Preliminary. This evening, I have been summoned to a meeting with mrs. Liliana Rodrigues, Member of the European Parliament for Madeira, to discuss the refusal of the Madeiran Regional Government to reinstall the ferry to the continent. This is proven to be a pure case of at least nepotism, facilitating a monopolist who has all maritime transport in hands, but it really reeks of corruption. I have been invited by a number of representatives who operate the Facebook platform 'Cruise Ferry Para a Madeira'. In a telephone conversation with one of the members, I was asked to arrive a bit early in order to determine a strategy. I was suggested to be firm, but also very polite, the Latin way, kissing mrs Rodrigues' hand as a matter of speak. After having given this a little thought, I have decided to do no such thing. Latin or not, this lady gets a NET salary of € 6400,04 (€8213,02 Gross) per month, plus 306€ per day outside of Portugal for bed and board if she attends a meeting, plus €4600 per month for office expenses. All in all, that is more than € 13000 euros of community money. And you think I will kiss the hand of anyone spending that much of MY money? I don't think so. My hand should be kissed by her, especially if she does not do her job. Her job is to defend the interests of the people that elected her, and certainly NOT the other way around. I shall press her to do what must be done to put a stop the this corruption, as requested by the European Commission, and give the people of Madeira the ferry they want, the cargo plane they need and to get rid of the corrupt way of thinking the actual government has.
