Regionalisation, centralism and the mobility of qualified young people: the FAP study

Students puncture the cliché about regionalisation

It is often said, almost as a reflex, that regionalisation only interests a small circle of politicians or researchers. The Federação Académica do Porto (FAP) has clearly helped to bring students’ views into the open by marking its 37th anniversary with the publication of a study on centralism and the mobility of qualified young people. In the survey, carried out by the Faculty of Economics at the University of Porto, six in every ten students questioned back regionalisation, and more than 90% argue for decentralisation to be taken further.

Centralism and the mobility of qualified young people

The findings mirror a European report released in May, which states that 76% of young people from the interior would like to remain in their home regions. The study commissioned by the FAP likewise concludes that most university students still feel a strong connection to their territory, yet believe the real opportunities are either in the capital or abroad. Lisbon’s share of qualified employment, when set against other European capitals, is exceptionally concentrated: only Greece and Hungary exceed it.

Territorial imbalances and the next European Union budget

Discussion of territorial imbalances ought to be front and centre at a time when the next European Union budget is being prepared. Cohesion funding is expected to be redirected towards defence, and it is also anticipated that sectors with clear relevance for Portugal-such as agriculture and fisheries-will be disadvantaged.

Instead, the country remains oddly dormant, absorbed in sterile arguments about the political “splits” the minority Government is obliged to do in order to pass legislation in Parliament. The Lisbon Metropolitan Area also suffers from excessive centralisation: rising pressure on housing, services that struggle to respond, and the burden placed on mobility. Meanwhile, the rest of the country loses too-growing weaker, increasingly stripped of people and investment. All of us lose when we cannot design policies tailored to each region and when younger people are denied the right to choose where they want to live.