Civil protection, animal health and food safety, housing and structures for serving citizens are the new areas for which the Government yesterday approved four new diplomas defining the transfer of competences to local authorities and to intermunicipal entities.
The Council of Ministers approved, at its meeting yesterday, a set of four diplomas that complement the package of measures presented last week, within the scope of the transfer of powers to local authorities and to inter-municipal entities provided for in the Framework Law on Decentralization, published on 16 August.
The statement from the Council of Ministers says that this second package was approved "after a process of consensus with the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and the National Association of Parishes."
So, in the civil protection, «the institutional and operational framework is defined within the autarchic scope, establishes the organization of municipal civil protection services and creates the municipal operational coordination center and the municipal civil protection coordinator».
At the level of animal protection and health and food safety, “It is now up to the municipalities to exercise powers in matters of livestock, veterinary and food safety”.
Na housing, the transfer of competences is carried out regarding «the management of programs to support leasing and urban rehabilitation, as well as the ownership and management of real estate for social housing that are part of the housing stock of the State administration».
As to citizen service, the competences of «installation and management of Citizens' Shops and Citizens' Spaces, of the Support Offices for Emigrants and of the Local Centers for Support and Integration of Migrants are transferred to the municipalities, and to the parishes the competences for the installation and the management of Citizen Spaces».
The statement of the Council of Ministers underlines that "the process of transfer of competences approved is gradual, in line with what is already foreseen in the Framework Law on Decentralization, with local authorities being able to assume the new competences in a phased manner until 2021".
In the Algarve, there are mayors of different parties who have already expressed their reservations about the transfer of competences process, while everyone defends that it is necessary to know the financial package.
The clearest position was taken by the Chamber of Silves, chaired by Rosa Palma (CDU), that even in August it had rejected the measure, a position that was later corroborated by the Municipal Assembly.
For the municipality of Silvense, the financial means that will be made available «are far from covering the costs of the transferred competences, representing, under the terms proposed by the Government, a mere and clear transfer of burdens and discontents from the Central Government to the Local Government».
See here the press conference after the Council of Ministers:
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