The end of the collection of tolls on the A22, A23, A24 and A25 highways, as proposed by the PCP, was refused this Thursday, in the Assembly of the Republic, with the votes against by the PSD, CDS and PS.
In the PS, six deputies voted in favor of the cessation of tolls in the former Scut, but curiously, none of them was a parliamentarian elected by the Algarve.
The six PS deputies who voted alongside the PCP, BE and PEV in the termination of the decree-law establishing tolls in the Scut do Algarve, Beira Interior, Interior Norte and Beira Litoral/Beira Alta, were Pedro Alves, André Figueiredo , Fernando Serrasqueiro, Rui Santos, Glória Araújo and Hortense Martins.
In the PS, there were also two deputies – Elza Pais and Acácio Pinto – who opted for abstention.
According to Público.pt, both in the PS and in the PSD benches, there were many announcements of explanations of vote regarding this parliamentary assessment.
In the PSD bench there were no votes against those of the bench, but the deputies elected by Guarda, Algarve, Vila Real and Santarém announced that they would present declarations of vote. Among the Socialists, Paulo Campos, former Secretary of State for Public Works, also announced an explanation of vote.
The BE also presented a draft resolution that intended to terminate the validity of the same decree, but the vote was hampered by the lead of the communist initiative.
For his part, in his intervention in the debate in AR, the communist deputy Paulo Sá, elected by the Algarve, stressed that “the introduction of tolls in SCUT lacks economic rationality, as the revenue from tolls will certainly be much lower than the enormous damage to regional economies'.
Paulo Sá added that, "by burdening companies in a disproportionate and unfair way, tolls will lead to the closure or bankruptcy of many of them, with dramatic consequences in terms of unemployment."
In the case of Via do Infante, he continued, «the tolls will also have extremely negative consequences on tourist activity, which, as we are well aware, is of strategic importance for the Algarve region. Thus, the collection of tolls will not only not contribute to solving serious national problems, but, on the contrary, will aggravate them even more”.
Furthermore, underlined Paulo Sá, “none of the SCUT concessions has a minimally credible alternative, so the introduction of tolls on these roads represents a serious setback in terms of accessibility. Of particular gravity is the predictable increase in road accidents, resulting from the transfer of high volumes of traffic from the now tolled motorways to the former national roads».
Referring to the deputies of the PSD, CDS and PS who, in the Algarve and in other regions for which they were elected, they affirmed against tolls, the PCP parliamentarian concluded: «if they say they are against tolls, here they can only vote against tolls. tolls! And if you vote here in favor of tolls, then, as a matter of decency, stop saying in your districts that you are against tolls».
However, in a statement that the Sul Informação had access, the Board of the PCP's Algarve Regional Organization described the debate on the communist proposal in the Assembly of the Republic as follows:
«Deputy Mota Andrade, on behalf of the PS parliamentary group, expressed the PS's agreement to the published legislation, that is, he is in agreement with the introduction of tolls. Deputy Miguel Freitas said nothing.
Sérgio Monteiro, Secretary of State for Public Works, said that this decree-law that introduced tolls corrected an injustice. In other words, the PSD/CDS-PP government not only introduces tolls but also enjoys the social dramas that tolls increase. And he even said that quality alternatives will be created. To consider Estrada Nacional 125 as a quality alternative is, to say the least, crazy.
Deputy Hélder Amaral of the CDS-PP expressed the agreement of the CDS-PP to the introduction of tolls. Deputy Artur Rego of the CDS-PP, elected by the Algarve, intervened to defend the government's proposal.
Deputy Pedro Saraiva of the PSD, strenuously, defended, on behalf of the PSD, the introduction of tolls. Deputy Mendes Bota said nothing».
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