266 visits, meetings and contacts, 30 draft resolutions presented to the Assembly of the Republic and 301 questions and requests made to the Government. This is the balance of the activity developed by PCP, in the Algarve, between October 2015 and July this year.
In a statement, the communists recalled that, in that period, PCP delegations, which included deputy Paulo Sá, elected by the Algarve, “carried out 266 visits, meetings and contacts in the Algarve region, with the PCP Parliamentary Group, based on these initiatives, presented 30 draft resolutions to the Assembly of the Republic and addressed 301 questions and requests to the Government».
In the plenary sessions of the Assembly of the Republic, as well as in the parliamentary committees, the PCP says that "it intervened in defense of the region, through its deputy elected by the Algarve, who also participated in several regional debates".
For the Communist Party, "this was an intense and diversified activity, deeply linked to the workers and populations of the Algarve region, based on permanent contact with the regional reality."
«The 266 visits, meetings and contacts took place in all the municipalities of the Algarve region and covered a wide range of areas, from workers' rights to the safety of populations, including health, education and science, social protection, culture and sport, agriculture and fisheries , commerce and services, transport and telecommunications, environment, justice and local government, allowing the identification of the problems that afflict the region and presenting proposals for their solution».
By proposal of the PCP, 25 resolutions of the Assembly of the Republic were approved, in total or in part, recommending to the Government: the improvement of public hospital healthcare in the Algarve, the rapid construction of the Hospital Central do Algarve and the new Hospital de Lagos, the improvement of health care provided by the Center for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the South or the rapid completion of the EN 125 rehabilitation works.
Resolutions were also approved concerning the upgrading of the EN124 between Silves and Porto de Lagos, the construction of the Guadiana International Bridge between Alcoutim and Sanlúcar, the creation of the Algarve Ports Administration, integrating all commercial, fishing and recreational ports in the region Algarve to the preservation and enhancement of the Commercial Port of Faro and to the full use of the potential of the Commercial Port of Portimão.
In addition, documents were also approved calling for the improvement of rail transport in the Algarve, the suspension of oil exploration and prospecting off Aljezur, the recognition of the social, economic and cultural value of the population centers of the barrier islands of Ria Formosa and the requalification of these nuclei, the requalification of the Ria Formosa lagoon system, the preservation of the environmental and cultural heritage and economic activities in the Cacela Velha and Fábrica areas and the revision of the territorial management instruments of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina , making the protection of nature compatible with economic development and the well-being of populations.
Finally, recalls the PCP, resolutions on the preservation of the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Balsa in Tavira, the promotion of the prickly pear row in the mountainous regions of the Algarve, the enhancement of the production and processing of arbutus, were also approved, the preservation of the traditional regional production of fig brandy and the construction of the new prison establishment in the Algarve in São Bartolomeu de Messines.
The “current balance of forces in the Assembly of the Republic, in which the PCP is decisive”, contributed greatly to the approval of these proposals.
The communists guarantee, however, that they will not fail to "follow and demand the Government to implement all these recommendations."
The PCP also presented in the Assembly of the Republic other draft resolutions proposing the immediate abolition of tolls on Via do Infante, «the reversal of the ruinous public-private partnerships of Via do Infante and EN 125, the end of demolitions in the population centers of the islands - Ria Formosa barrier, the reversal of the process of merging the Algarve hospitals into a single hospital and the construction of a regional public slaughterhouse in the Algarve, which were, however, rejected».
The PCP also addressed 301 questions and requests to the Government “on a wide range of issues relating to the Algarve, from the defense of workers' rights to the need to provide public services with human, material and financial resources suitable for their functions, including the improvement of functions State social services in health, education, social security and culture, for the promotion of productive activities in agriculture, fisheries and industry, for the construction of infrastructure necessary for regional development, for the support of micro and small entrepreneurs, and for the defense and preservation of environmental values'.
At the regional level, since October 2015, some advances were made, such as the increase of users with a family doctor, the purchase of equipment for the University Hospital Center of the Algarve, the reopening of health extensions in the interior of the Algarve and the integration of the South Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in the National Health Service, the 15% reduction in the tolls on Via do Infante, the completion of the requalification works on the EN125 between Olhão and Vila do Bispo, the requalification of GNR stations, the completion of some works in the region's fishing ports, among others.
These are advances that the PCP considers as “being positive”, but also “limited and insufficient”.
The activity carried out in the Assembly of the Republic, justify the communists, "results from the combined and converging efforts of many communist militants who, in the Direction of the Regional Organization, in the council committees, in grassroots organizations and in the parliamentary group, intervened in it".
«It is this collective work, as well as the link between the communists and the workers and populations, that sustains a qualified intervention in defense of the interests of the Algarve and the country», they conclude.
Comments