The Government will increase by 7,5% the funds to be transferred to the Parish Councils this year. The guarantee was given this Friday, January 24, by Prime Minister António Costa, at the National Congress of the National Association of Parishes (ANAFRE), taking place in Portimão.
The financial reinforcement “will help to consolidate the process of accepting competences”, in the context of decentralization. According to the prime minister, this year 224 million euros will be transferred to the parishes, when, in 2015, the value had been 187 million.
António Costa believes that the increase in funds will also allow “the conditions to be created so that all the Juntas can count on at least one elected member working part-time”.
Pedro Cegonho, the leader of ANAFRE who said goodbye in Portimão, also referred to this need.
“We will not be able to continue for much longer with more than two thirds of the parishes in which their local elected representatives carry out the tasks of the parishes on a voluntary basis,” he said.
Returning to António Costa, in his speech at the opening of the ANAFRE congress, the prime minister also left the news that the Government is available to resume the «assessment of the territorial reorganization in its entirety».
“After five years of consolidating the creation and aggregation of parishes, we must complete the process and proceed with the introduction of corrections. The Government is ready to resume the dialogue to present a proposal for a law to introduce the strictly necessary corrections», he said.
In this case it is nothing new, but the leader of the Government also spoke again about the election of the presidents of the Regional Coordination and Development Commissions (CCDR) by "a vast electoral college". The aim is for this to happen already "in this first semester".
This college should include "mayors, councilors, members of the Municipal Assemblies and the presidents of the Parish Councils".
"This is a step that we must take now, so that the CCDRs have strengthened democratic legitimacy and that their presidents are the voice of the country's mayors," said the prime minister, garnering much applause.
For those who fear that this measure will be an obstacle to regionalization, Costa left a warning: “this step we are taking now is not intended to compromise any future decision”.
"When the country is ripe for this discussion [regionalization], it will certainly happen again," he said.
An avowed supporter of decentralization, António Costa, who was also mayor in Lisbon, referred to this process as the “most important reform”.
Its consolidation “will have to be a priority for everyone, because only in this way will Portugal get closer to the oldest and most consolidated democracies”.
"Decentralization should have been done long ago," he said, bluntly, being a difficult process, but "one that cannot fail."
The hostess Isilda Gomes, mayor of Portimão, made the intervention of the night, receiving lots of applause. With his eyes fixed on the hundreds of delegates, he said: "they didn't find here the sun they were waiting for, but they brought the rain we needed!" The laugh was general.
In a more serious tone, the mayor assumed herself as a fan of decentralization, as this is "the cornerstone of municipal power".
With regard to City Councils, he argued that presidents also "must decentralize powers to the Boards", something that Portimão did.
Ao Sul Informação, Álvaro Bila, president of the Junta de Portimão and effective member of the General Council of ANAFRE, considered that this issue – decentralization – is really the main theme of this Congress. “We have to be sure of what we can do and the financial envelope that will be available to us”.
“There is no doubt that the skills are needed by the parishes, but the boards also have to have human and financial resources to be able to develop more skills. The Government, moreover, has already given great proof that it is a friend of the parishes», he added.
The President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was not present, but he left a message to Congress (and to the Government): "it is premature for other steps to be taken without decentralization being stabilized".
The ANAFRE Congress runs until tomorrow, January 25, at Portimão Arena.
Photos: Pedro Lemos e Hugo Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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