Newspapers and radios want to penalize municipalities that do not disclose decisions

Athe representative associations of the press and radio call on parliamentary groups to approve the proposal which effectively obliges local authorities to publicise their deliberations in regional and local media.

The call for approval of the proposal 2230C to the State Budget for 2027 (OE2027) is made in a joint statement released today by the Christian Inspiration Press Association (AIC), Association of Christian Inspiration Radios (ARIC), Portuguese Press Association (APIMPrensa) and Portuguese Broadcasting Association (APR).

Representatives of “the press and radio of the whole country, national, regional and local, and different editorial guidelines”, the associations say they speak “with one voice because this is a matter of transparency of local power that must unite all parties”.

The Associations recall that since 2013, Article 56 of the Local Authority Legal Scheme (Law No 75/2013) obliges local authorities to disclose their deliberations in the regional press, but, “for 13 years, this obligation has never been applied”.

Although on 16 October last the Assembly of the Republic adopted, in a final vote overall, the proposal for Law No 62/XVII/1a, which “makes [est]the enforceable obligation” – by updating the means covered, simplifying the form of disclosure and adjusting the cost to the municipalities – the fact is that, in the specialty, the rule that determined the ineffectiveness of unpublicised deliberations was eliminated.

While welcoming “this advance” and recognizing “the work done by the Members of all parliamentary groups”, the associations stress that, without the rule in the meantime failed, “the law sets an obligation, but does not foresee what happens to those who do not comply with it”.

He argues, “an obligation without consequence risks repeating what has happened in the last 13 years”.

Through proposal 2230C, whose approval they claim, the associations stress that the authorities are effectively obliged to publicise their deliberations, since it is established that non-compliance with this obligation “determines the ineffectiveness of deliberations”.

For AIC, ARIC, APImprensa and APR, this is a “balanced solution”, since “follow the Constitution”, it has the costs already “planned and financed” and “protects the municipalities”.

“ Ineffectiveness is the consequence that Article 119(2) of the Constitution already provides for the lack of publicity of acts of general local government content. It does not create a new sanctioning regime”, they explain.

As for costs, the law already approved “sends the government to enter, in each State Budget, the funds that the authorities need for the costs of this advertising scheme (Article 4)”, and the 2230C proposal “does not create charges beyond these”, but “just ensures that the approved obligation is fulfilled”.

In addition, the associations note that the approved scheme “already provides for alternatives when there are no eligible media in the municipality”, and that “if the price exceeds the reference table, the authority may use means of other scopes and ultimately waive publication, justifying it in writing (Article 56a(3) and (4)).

Sustaining that the publication of deliberations in regional and local media bodies “assuring that citizens know the decisions that affect their daily lives”, from works to licenses, fees and support, the associations emphasize that “at the same time contributes to the sustainability of newspapers and radios that are, in many municipalities, the only source of information of proximity”.

“ We call on all parliamentary groups to approve the 2230C proposal, as it stands, in the special vote on the state budget for 2027. This vote is the opportunity for the law to enter into force already with the consequence that it takes effect, and does not stay, as in the last 13 years, only on paper ", shoot.