There are eight of the 16 existing Chambers in the Algarve that will not assume any of the powers that the Government has decided to transfer to the municipalities. In the opposite field, only Olhão e Portimão will assume all.
At issue are the nine diplomas that have already been published in the Diário da República, which frame the transfer of powers from the Central State to the municipalities, whose non-acceptance had to be transmitted to the General Directorate of Local Authorities (DGAL) until yesterday January 31st.
In this first phase, the transfer of responsibilities relating to Beaches, to Related Modalities of Games of Fortune and Chance, to Housing, to Communication Routes, to Justice, to the Fire Department, to Citizen Services, to Public Real Estate and the Public Parking.
So after Silves e Lagoa, who announced long ago that they would not accept any of the attributions to be decentralized, also Alcoutim, Aljezur, Castro Marim, Monchique, Vila do Bispo and Vila Real de Santo António decided to leave the assumption of more responsibilities until later.
Faro e Tavira accept seven competences, Loulé will assume six of the attributions to be decentralized, Albufeira and São Brás de Alportel four and Lagos only one competency – see which ones in the infographic below.
Silves was the first to reject outright the transfer of competences. Sectoral diplomas for transfers of competences had not even begun to be approved by the Council of Ministers, as the Municipal Assembly of Silvense refused to assume the new attributions that were to be transferred, under a law approved a few weeks earlier.
"We communicated to the DGAL before 15 September that we did not intend to assume any competence and we were the only municipality in the Algarve to meet this deadline, which was stipulated in the law", he told the Sul Informação the mayor of Silves Rosa Palma.
However, and taking into account the delay in the publication in the Diário da República of the diplomas that were being approved – something that only happened in November – this deadline was extended.
"As they were being published, we also communicated our non-acceptance to the DGAL", assured the mayor Silvense.
Francisco Martins, mayor of Lagoa, also said, from the start, that he would not accept any competence and confirmed it to the Sul Informação this month.
More recently, another six municipalities approved, in a Municipal Assembly, to be free of new responsibilities in 2019.
The reasons for rejecting new assignments are, in different cases, closely linked to the desire to better understand what is at stake and, mainly, the financial packages associated with this passage of testimony.
Still, many of the mayors said they were all in favor of ongoing decentralization. However, as illustrated by the Alcoutenejo mayor Osvaldo Gonçalves, there are "still several issues that we would like to see clarified" and for which no response came "in good time".
These doubts are not exclusive to those who have not accepted any competence. Also Vítor Guerreiro, who presides over the Chamber of São Brás, told the Sul Informação that it does not accept some new assignments, because "it is not well explained what the financial considerations are".
As for the acceptance of the competences related to the beaches, Vítor Guerreiro explained that "we took it on now, it didn't matter or not", bearing in mind that this is an inland municipality where there are no river or lake beaches, which are also included in the diploma.
The transfer of new competences to the municipalities was regulated in 11 diplomas approved by the Council of Ministers, in 2018, after negotiation with the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities.
For the time being, City Councils still have the power to decide which competencies they accept. But this decentralization will be universal and mandatory from 2021.
Infographics: Nuno Costa|Sul Informação
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