Miguel Freitas, PS deputy elected by the circle of Faro, voted against Bill No. 320/XII, presented by the PSD and CDS-PP, which proceeds with the Administrative Reorganization of the Territory of Parishes, considering that “it does not contribute to the desirable increase in efficiency or to the intended reinforcement of provision of the public service”.
“As if Law no. 22/2012, of May 30, was approved completely against the population, associations representing local government and local administration workers' unions, a bill is presented that it only results in a lost opportunity to design a true plan to improve the provision of public service, increase efficiency and reduce costs, a commitment assumed by the Republic”, criticizes the Parliamentarian, to reiterate the need for a model of State decentralization from macro level to micro level.
"It is necessary to unleash a regionalization process that has associated a new paradigm of intermunicipalism, from which the means and competences of our municipalities and our parishes are strengthened", defends the Socialist Deputy, considering that the reform of the State is based on a new map of parishes means “starting a reform by the end”.
Pointing as an example the Electoral Circle of Faro, where 17 parishes will be extinguished in a total of 16 councils, Miguel Freitas argues that, by being governed by criteria that are difficult to adjust to reality, "it is under pressure" that the Bill presented by the majority deputies determines the aggregation of more than 2000 parishes. And adds:
“By materializing the work of the Technical Unit for Territorial Administrative Reorganization, this Bill forgets all the warnings issued by the bodies of local authorities and the populations, namely with regard to cases in which the historical and cultural aspects of aggregation are forgotten of parishes, as well as their identity, in many cases older than their own nationality”.
In the explanation of vote presented this week, Miguel Freitas also maintains that, upon being approved in the Assembly of the Republic, Law no. it constitutes a true framework law, with reinforced value, as it conditions the entire process of reorganizing the territory of the 22 parishes in mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Regions.
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