The Portimão City Council will be one of the first municipalities at national level to receive help from the Municipal Support Fund (FAM), which should be discussed and approved today by the Council of Ministers.
The Algarve municipality, which two weeks ago saw the Court of Auditors refuse him access to PAEL, will also be part of the batch of municipalities that will receive an "emergency aid", under the FAM, which should arrive within "a few weeks", revealed Isilda Gomes, mayor of Portimão, in an interview with Sul Informação.
In the scope of the working meeting that the direction of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) held last week with some members of the Government, in which Isilda Gomes participated, the constitution of the Municipal Support Fund was discussed, and, according to the mayor of Portimo, «on the part of the Government, we saw that there was every determination for the Fund to go ahead, as a way to help municipalities that are in a situation of financial asphyxia to overcome these moments of crisis”.
"So much so that there is, from the outset, the will of the Government, as we were told by the Secretary of State, that even before the FAM is fully operational, there is emergency aid to municipalities that are in a more complicated situation, such as this is the case of Portimão», added Isilda Gomes.
And when will this “emergency aid”, which is one of the rules of the new FAM, reach the most afflicted Chambers? "I will make every effort to make it as quick as possible," guarantees the mayor, stressing that "according to the information" given by the Government, this help "may arrive in a few weeks."
As for the amount of "emergency aid", Isilda Gomes said that "we have not yet negotiated with the Government", but assured that it will give "at least to pay salaries and maintain the essential functions of the municipality".
FAM will cover the entire debt
Another guarantee that the socialist mayor says he has already received from the Government is that the FAM "will cover the total debt of Portimão", which is around 100 million euros, between the amount that was applied for the PAEL and the Financial Rebalancing Plan negotiated with the bank.
Isilda Gomes recalled, in her interview with Sul Informação, that «the major problem with the non-approval of the PAEL was the fact that the Court of Auditors did not accept the Factoring as a Financial Tool for Managing Seasonal Fluctuations in Trucking as part of PAEL. In 89 million of this latest version of the PAEL candidacy presented to the Court of Auditors, 80 million were from Factoring as a Financial Tool for Managing Seasonal Fluctuations in Trucking, which they considered to be financial debt, therefore not eligible».
Now, however, the situation is different: “there is no doubt that the FAM will support the financial and non-financial debt of the municipalities. Everything fits within the FAM».
But if things seem to be going well with the Government, which is political color quite different from the Portimão Chamber, the same is not true of the ANMP, headed by another socialist mayor, Manuel Machado, mayor of Coimbra. The fact that the money to constitute the FAM comes from the Government, but also from all the Municipal Councils, has not been very well regarded. The ANMP General Council itself did not accept the Government's proposal.
However, the president of Portimão assured in a conversation with our newspaper, “on the Government's side, the process is going forward, even without the positive opinion of ANMP. There is even a pre-scheduling of the discussion of the FAM in the Assembly of the Republic for the 18th of June».
This is because, said the socialist mayor, "the Government is determined to maintain these calendars and that the FAM is on the ground as soon as possible."
Chambers that behaved well paying for those that behaved badly?
And what about the argument of some mayors that the FAM is going to put the Chambers that behaved well to pay the debts of those that didn't?
Isilda Gomes answers: «I understand my colleagues and, if I were in their shoes, I might also put some restrictions. Now, the FAM is a solidarity fund. There are 60 Chambers in need of it – 30 in urgent need and another 30 that also need it».
On the other hand, he argued, "this Fund is not extinguished when the situation of these 60 Chambers is resolved", which is a guarantee, since "a municipality that is financially well today may have to resort, in the future, to the FAM».
«The worst thing that can happen to an autarchy – and that's what happened to the Portimão City Council – is to reach a situation in which it enters into this structural deficit and then has to wait for a government program to be created in order to respond. Not! We have to have a program that responds immediately», he stressed.
Isilda Gomes also recalled that "at this moment, there are more municipalities, in addition to Portimão, which have already raised concerns about their future to the Government, because they are in a real blockade like us."
In the Algarve, Portimão is the only case still to be resolved, as other municipalities in difficulties have had access to the PAEL. "But the PAEL did not solve the problem of the municipalities that resorted to it, so much so that the FAM itself will allow the municipalities that have already been to PAEL to also use this Fund", revealed the mayor.
And the mayor also stressed that “even if the City Council of Portimão had obtained the PAEL, it would necessarily have to go to the Municipal Support Fund. It's because? Because the debt service we were going to have was not sustainable, which, under the PAEL and the Rebalancing, had an effort rate of around 30%, when the normal rate is between 14 and 16%. We would necessarily have to apply for the FAM».
Finally, the mayor of Portimão recalled that «who will have to contribute to the Municipal Support Fund is not only the municipalities that are doing well economically. Even those who use the Fund will have to contribute. All municipalities will have to contribute».
This Thursday, the Council of Ministers, should come out white smoke for the creation of a Municipal Support Fund endowed with 660 million euros, which will allow save Chambers, such as Portimão, of its unsustainable financial situation. And it is ironic that a City Council with a socialist majority is saved, in extremis, by a PSD+CDS Government.
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