The PS of Vila Real de santo António wrote an open letter to the executive committee of the Municipal Support Fund (FAM), demanding to know "why so much confidentiality" around the report declaring the non-compliance of the Vila Realense municipality and the consequent suspension of financial support.
About two weeks ago, the Socialists went public to denounce that the Chamber of VRSA, led by the Social Democrat Conceição Cabrita, did not fulfill what was required of her as a beneficiary of the FAM, an instrument created to save municipalities with greater financial difficulties in the country. This non-compliance was declared by fund managers in May, but the report "was kept secret until September", they accuse.
This non-compliance forced the municipality to launch a new package of financial containment measures, very focused on cutting expenses.
Taking into account "the disastrous consequences" of this report "for those who live, work and invest in Vila Real de Santo António", the main opposition party in this municipality finds it strange that "both municipal deputies and municipal councilors of opposition parties" , have been “kept in ignorance”.
The document in question was released after analyzing the progress of the Municipal Adjustment Program, which stipulates a series of measures to balance the accounts of the supported municipality, such as maintaining municipal rates at the maximum and cutting expenses in various sectors. This process can be compared to the intervention of the Troika in Portugal, following the crisis.
In the report that it prepared, the executive board of the FAM declared, according to the PS, that the obligations arising from the PAM of the Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António «were not fulfilled in a positive way, and the Municipality must take the exceptional measures identified in points 1 and 2 of the Conclusions, whereby the release of the 3rd and last installment, in the amount of 2.521.693,40 euros, relating to the Loan and Financial Assistance Agreement in force, is subject to compliance with the same».
The Socialists want those responsible for the FAM to clarify "whether the provisions of the law have been complied with, since non-compliance is the exclusive responsibility of those who managed and manage the City Council and, as a consequence, the situation of unsustainability of the municipality's accounts is worsened, to the point where the FAM defends the extension of the term of the plan by another 50%».
"This means that more than one generation of citizens of our municipality will be born and reach adulthood in a municipality where the municipality will be subject to serious financial constraints and limited in its investment capacity", defends the PS.
The opposition party in VRSA also questions "why did the FAM allow the municipality not to submit reports for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2017 and why it allowed the municipality to send the quarterly report for the last quarter of 2017 only in mid- May 2018".
«It should be noted that we find it very difficult to understand how it is possible to accompany a municipality in such a difficult situation with such permissiveness», they say.
The socialists also regret that, "throughout this process, the FAM leadership has ignored the existence of the executive councilors who, now faced with the serious and urgent situation, now, under the terms of the report, have to approve the quarterly execution reports'.
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