The decentralization of competences in the health area and the need for a review of the financial allocation associated with this transfer of responsibilities were one of the topics addressed. the meeting between AMAL – Comunidade Intermunicipal do Algarve and the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities, which took place on Monday, the 2nd, in Faro.
The decentralization and transfer of competences in some sectors has given a lot to talk about and was, as such, one of the “hot” topics of the meeting.
If, on the one hand, as António Pina, president of AMAL, stressed at the session, the mayors have assumed without major obstacles the transfer and implementation of competences in most areas, "in two or three", in particular in health, the process has not been peaceful.
«Many of the Algarve municipalities have not yet accepted the transfer of competences in the area of Health, precisely because it is the one that most worries the mayors of the region», he said.
According to the mayor, the "de-budgeting that has existed in health services over the last 10 years means that the management accounts that determine the value to be given to municipalities, as well as human resources, fall far short of what are the normal needs for its proper functioning'.
António Pina argues that “it is essential that there is a review/update of the values and criteria for the allocation of funds that will be transferred to the municipalities” within the scope of this process.
This is, moreover, a claim that the National Association of Municipalities guaranteed that it will reach the Government and the Parliamentary Budget Committee, this Thursday.
Luísa Salgueiro, president of the ANMP, also maintains that “the conditions established when the decentralization process started were significantly changed, first with the Covid-19 pandemic and now the war in Ukraine”, ensuring that the association “will make every effort to to resolve the constraints that still exist in the decentralization process».
Despite these constraints, the President of the ANMP wanted to acknowledge the Municipalities of the Algarve «for their high commitment in this whole process», highlighting the Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve as being «the most advanced, in relation to the rest of the country, in this process». transfer of competences'.
Monday's meeting also served to talk about topics such as the Local Finance Law, Community Funds (Portugal 2020, the Recovery and Resilience Plan and Portugal 2030), spatial planning, regionalization and the difficulties in developing Local Housing Strategies.
One day after meeting with the mayors of the Algarve, the ANMP Board of Directors met in the Chamber of Faro, whose president, Rogério Bacalhau, is one of the members of this executive body.
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