“As long as there is a family in Lagos without a decent house, our task will not be completed”, said Luís Encarnação, Mayor of Lagoa, in his inauguration speech last night.
The mayor, who was directly elected to the post for the first time, despite having been president for two years, announced housing and the replacement of obsolete water pipes as a top priority, along with «continuing the fight against Covid-19” and the “economic recovery of the municipality with job creation”.
Therefore, he presented the "two purposes" of the mandate that began yesterday: on the one hand, "the construction of housing at controlled costs that allows the settlement of Lagoon families, especially the younger ones, and access to housing as a first right" .
On the other hand, «the replacement of the main water mains in our municipality's water distribution network, some of which are more than 40 years old, which break too often, and which cause us to lose thousands of cubic meters of water, an essential asset for life, but increasingly scarce and therefore more precious».
At the ceremony for the installation of the new municipal bodies, which took place in a Municipal Auditorium in Lagoa with almost no empty seats, Luís Encarnação also highlighted the «six commitments» of his renewed team: «doing even more and better in Education, Culture and Action Social", as well as in Sport, in taking care of the Public Space and in the "carrying out of works and infrastructure essential for the development of the municipality".
As for the results that came out of the Local Elections of 26 September, which guaranteed an absolute majority to the PS, both in the Chamber, in the Municipal Assembly and in the Parishes, President Luís Encarnação defended that «it was the recognition of the work of those who, especially in the latter two years, he was always in the struggle for the protection of Lagoa and the people of Lagos».
Speaking of the future, the mayor recalled that Lagoa celebrates in just over a year, on January 16, 2023, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the municipality, by separating the term of Silves.
In this regard, as the re-elected mayor of Silves, Rosa Palma (CDU) was in the audience among the guests, Luís Encarnação recalled the joint projects that the municipalities of Silves and Lagoa are developing, «of which the most recent is the Protected Marine Area of Community Interest of Pedro do Valado”, but also the attempt to “be elected European City of Wine in 2023”, in this case a joint project also with Lagos and Albufeira.
After the inauguration of the new municipal executive – in addition to Luís Encarnação, it also includes councilors Anabela Correia (PS), Ana Martins (PS) and Mário Guerreiro (PS), who came from the previous executive, and also Rúben Palma (PS) ), a new element of the socialists, as well as Francisco Martins (Lagoa Primeira Movement) and Mário Vieira (PSD) -, followed that of the elected members of the Municipal Assembly.
Also here, in addition to the novelty of the municipal deputies elected by the Lagoa Primeira Movement (MLP), there was the election of a member of Chega, an absolute debut.
José Águas da Cruz (PS), who was already the president of the Municipal Assembly (AM) in the previous term, was again elected by his peers for the same position, having as 1st secretary Pedro Lobato and 2nd secretary Fátima Lopes, both socialists . There were 17 “yes”, 6 blank and 1 “no” votes.
In his final speech, José Águas da Cruz underlined that «the times ahead are challenging times», as it is necessary, at the same time, «to fight the pandemic» and «prepare the economic and social recovery of our municipality, in a global framework of profound technological, economic, social and environmental changes».
Furthermore, he warned, “the next decade is decisive for reversing the climate and environmental crisis. Environmental awareness has been consolidating and mobilizing the new generations, who demand clear changes, so that life on the planet is possible, demands that the Democratic Local Authority cannot ignore».
Hence, he argued, “serious global challenges await us: change our model of economic and social development; change our behavior and our lifestyle; change the energy matrix, investing in renewable energies, in order to have a more sustainable planet».
"The fight against climate change, social inequalities and poverty, which the pandemic crisis has highlighted and aggravated, are urgent" and the "Local Democratic Power has the duty to respond to these global challenges, at municipal and Intermunicipal,” he added.
But the president of the Municipal Assembly also admitted a frustration, which even causes him a "bitter taste of disappointment", for something that the country's Government has not yet managed to accomplish: the transfer of competences to the Municipal Councils, a process that he believes has elapsed in a "blunt way", "putting into question the very goodness of the reform".
A convinced regionalist since always, Águas da Cruz also considered that “the pandemic crisis has demonstrated the need to reformulate decentralization and move towards Regionalization”, not least because, he underlined, “without Regionalization, the Constitution is not fulfilled”.
In conclusion, he spoke of another cause that is very dear to him: «to value and dignify the role of the Municipal Assembly», which «should be at the center of public debate and major political decisions, as a forum par excellence of Democratic Local Government, the foundation of Democratic Rule of Law”.
"The exercise of local democracy and its deepening, with the participation of citizens, especially the youngest, is the most effective way to increase a solid democratic culture, making society more resilient to the onslaught of authoritarian and populist movements" , he added.
However, he admitted, «the participation of Lagoenses in public life is one of the deficits of our local democracy, which we have not yet managed to fill».
Therefore, José Águas da Cruz, as president of the Municipal Assembly, expressed his commitment to «stimulating citizen participation in the definition of municipal public policies, in monitoring their implementation as well as in solving community problems, which is absolutely decisive. to restore citizens' confidence in democratic institutions”.
The issue of citizen participation in the life of the municipality was, in fact, a theme in the interventions of some of the representatives of the various political forces with a seat in the Municipal Assembly.
The young Carlota Andrade, from CDU, appealed for citizens to participate more in civic life, but also for elected representatives to involve citizens more, calling them to “discuss the problems and solutions for the whole council”.
In order to promote this closer relationship with the citizens, Carlota Andrade proposed, in this 2021/2025 term, that there be «sessions of the Assembly in the different parishes, with an agenda designed for these populations.
Lurdes Alemão, from Chega, would also speak on the subject, saying that his action in AM would be guided by “fighting the lack of confidence and lack of motivation that so often undermines the ability of residents to intervene in their destinies”.
In the remaining speeches, Jorge Ramos, from the Left Block, stressed that it is necessary to continue to «defend the most vulnerable people» and, in this sense, underlined that «the City Council will have to continue with social support and streamline paths so that the in our county we have better services in the Health Center and its extensions, both in terms of human resources, as well as maintenance and conservation of buildings».
José Inácio Marques Eduardo (PSD) said that «the values of openness, transparency and accountability of the Assembly and City Council will be the matrix of our performance» at AM.
José Alves Pinto (MLP) guaranteed “humbly accepting the role that [the Lagoans] wanted to attribute to the Lagoa Primeira Movement”. "We will be the first opposition force!" he warned, later citing Albert Einstein and Robert Reich. Alves Pinto ended with a sentence, presumably in Arabic, which obviously no one in the room understood, but which drew some laughter among the audience. It was, in fact, the second time that his intervention aroused laughter, as the first was when he said that the MLP had "a decent electoral campaign, because there are others that are not".
On the part of the political forces with representation in AM, Luís Ribeiro (PS), who also defended, “above all, more citizenship, more participation” spoke.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
Taking possession of the Local Authorities of Lagoa
TOWN HALL
Luís António Alves da Encarnação – PS
Anabela Simão Correia Rocha – PS
Francisco José Malveiro Martins – MLP
Ana Cristina Tiago Martins – PS
Ruben Patricio Infante Palma – PS
Mario José Costa Vieira – PSD
Mario Fernando Rodrigues Guerreiro – PS
CITY COUNCIL
José Manuel Correia Águas da Cruz – PS
Pedro Alexandre Triberes Barradas de Souza Lobato – PS
Maria de Fatima da Silva Valdire Lopes – PS
José Joaquim Barroso Alves Pinto – MLP
José Inácio Marques Eduardo – PSD
Luís Pedro Vieira Ribeiro – PS
Carlos Manuel dos Reis Ramos – PS
Maria Licinia Mendes Lourenço – PS
Ruth Alexandra Barroso Sobreira Mota – MLP
Maria de Lourdes Rego Alemão – CH
Joaquim José Martins Cabrita – PSD
Ricardo Jorge Braz da Silva – PS
Carla Isabel de Jesus Serol – PS
Diamantino José Ernesto Ruivinho – MLP
Elsa Maria Vieira Mendes – PS
Telma Isabel Alberto Viana – PSD
Jorge Manuel Albano from Encarnação Ramos – BE
Tiago Manuel Valdire Lopes – PS
Carlota Dolores Cardoso Andrade – CDU
Victor Manuel Gonçalves dos Santos – PS
PRESIDENTS OF BOARD AND PARISH UNION
(also with seat, inherently, in AM)
Joaquim João Lopes Paulo – Union of Parishes of Lagoa and Carvoeiro – PS
Joaquim Dimas Neto Varela – Union of Parishes of Estombar and Parchal – PS
Luís José Soares Bentes – Porches Parish Council – PS
Luís Filipe dos Santos Alberto – Parish Council of Ferragudo – PS
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