In Portugal sparked controversy over renaming of airport Madeira in honor of Ronaldo
Moscow. March 20. INTERFAX.RU — Regional government of the Portuguese island of Madeira sharply criticized the doubts of Lisbon on the legality of the renaming of the airport of the island after the Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, writes Politico.
“They’re trying to hint that the legitimate, democratically elected government of Madeira has no right to change the name of the airport, which belongs to our region and contains the taxes of the inhabitants of Madeira. They probably kidding”, — quotes the statement of the President of the regional government of Miguel Albuquerque European edition of Politico.
As the Portuguese newspaper Publico, he reacted to statements made by the Minister for planning and infrastructure, Pedro Marques, who questioned the legality of the decision of the authorities of Madeira. According to him, the authorities of the Madeira did not address the consultation to the Ministry on the subject. As noted by the Portuguese media, Marques was not the only Minister in Portugal who do not share the enthusiasm of Madeira about renaming the airport.
Madeira Airport
The decision to rename the airport in honor of the football player, born in the island’s capital Funchal, the regional government of Madeira declared in June 2016. The initiative was perceived ambiguously: the inhabitants of the island have created a petition for annulment, but she has not received the required number of signatures to be considered by the authorities.
The ceremony of renaming the “Madeira Airport” “Airport Madeira — Cristiano Ronaldo” is scheduled for March 29. In front of her — March 28 — on the island there will be a friendly match between Portugal and Sweden, participation in which will take myself and Ronaldo. No major Portuguese politician yet has not confirmed readiness to attend the ceremony renaming.
The airport mostly serves flights from European airlines, including the largest Portuguese airline TAP, the British low-cost airline EasyJet, Lufthansa and AirBerlin, the German, the Austrian company Austrian and regional and Charter airline of Portugal, Spain, France, and Switzerland.
Ronaldo now plays for real Madrid, was born in the capital of the island Funchal in 1985. The town erected a bronze monument and a Museum in his honor, as well as the name of the footballer was named one of the areas of Funchal.
Monument Ronaldo