Águas da Cruz wants the Intermunicipal Assembly as a "great forum for regional debate"

The Algarve Intermunicipal Assembly «must be the great forum for the debate of regional policies». The words are from José Águas da Cruz who was reelected, this Monday, December 6, as president of this body, at the first meeting of the 2021-2025 mandate, which took place at Teatro das Figuras, in Faro.

The list, headed by Águas da Cruz (PS), who is also president of the Municipal Assembly (AM) of Lagoa and has led the Intermunicipal Assembly since December 2020, was the only one to vote and also has AM member Tiago Botelho in Faro (PSD), as vice-president, and Célia Paz, president of the AM of Vila Real de Santo António (PS), as secretary.

This list received 35 votes in favour, 9 blank and 4 against.

Although only 48 members participated in the first meeting, the Intermunicipal Assembly of the Algarve has 58 deputies, elected by each of the municipal assemblies of the 16 municipalities (two members in municipalities with up to 10 thousand voters, 4 members in municipalities between 10.001 and 50 thousand voters and 6 members in municipalities between 50.001 and 100 thousand voters).

It is this regional scope that leads Águas da Cruz to consider that this body «cannot resign from its function» of being the «great forum for the debate of regional policies».

«Here we represent all the councils and all the citizens of the Algarve. Above party affiliations, what we all want is the well-being of the region and our fellow citizens. We cannot be a secondary partner, but an active one", he defended, in statements to the Sul Informação. 

During these four years, Águas da Cruz wants the Intermunicipal Assembly to be an “airy structure, open to society, that receives contributions and also gives them”.

For the rest, the Intermunicipal Assembly works as a deliberative body of AMAL – Intermunicipal Community and, according to the president Águas da Cruz, will accompany the region's goals for the next four years.

“We are living through a particularly challenging period of our collective life. The big challenges are listed: it is the issue of climate change, water resources and their scarcity, but also the digital and energy transition», he said.

Added to this is “a priority issue, even before all others, which is the fight against Covid-19” and the attraction, for the region, of “digital nomads”.

This session was also marked by the re-election of Joaquim Brandão Pires as AMAL's first secretary, with 31 votes in favour, 14 blank and 3 against.

In his speech, Brandão Pires said that he will carry out the position "with great enthusiasm", calling for the union of all in defense of the Algarve.

«The Algarve is a lie very well told because we are a rich region, which is a fallacy. Therefore, it is important that we join hands in defense of the Algarve», he concluded.