OE2027: Collections require support and alert to risk of closures

A Portuguese Confederation of Culture, Recreio and Sport Collectives (CPCCRD) today warned that the lack of support in the State Budget for 2027 (OE2027) aggravates economic difficulties and threatens the continuity of associations throughout the country.

“ We are in a situation of great emergency”, Lusa said the President of the Confederation, Jorge Feliciano, considering that the associative movement is going through “one of the most difficult stages” since April 25, although it maintains vitality.

The alert also covers the district of Santarém, where the communities face difficulties in financing and conservation of buildings, according to the leader of the Confederation Julio Costa.

At the national level, the associative movement brings together about 33,000 collectives, 450,000 voluntary leaders and at least three million associates, estimated Jorge Feliciano, adding that between four thousand and five thousand entities are affiliated in the Confederation.

The manager attributed the worsening of the situation to the increase in rents and energy costs, the covid-19 pandemic and the weather, which damaged installations and prevented activities, in some cases without recovery of buildings.

“There are many communities that have closed silently in this decade,” he said, pointing out associations threatened with eviction in Lisbon and income increases in Évora and Castelo Branco.

Jorge Feliciano criticized the absence of a structure of the state that accompanied the sector and defended a national policy with its own resources, considering current support dispersed and insufficient.

The Confederacy has launched a petition, already with some 2,500 registered signatures, requiring the inclusion of five measures in the OE2027, including a multiannual support line for the functioning of associations and regular expenditure.

It also calls for the reduction of gas and electricity VAT to 6%, the return of VAT in the purchase of cultural and sporting materials and equipment, the updating of the IRC exemption for incomes up to EUR 35 thousand and a line of support for the regularization of associative buildings.

Jorge Feliciano considered out of date the current IRC exemption limit of 7,500 euros, which covers revenue from activities such as bars, used to finance the communities.

The President of the Confederation also said that he asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister, but was referred to the Ministry of Culture, which has not yet scheduled a meeting, and submitted the demands to the Budget and Finance Committee of the Assembly of the Republic.

As none of the measures is included in the government proposal, the organization expects them to be welcomed in the discussion in the specialty.

Jorge Feliciano said he knew an initiative of the CFP, without excluding proposals from other parties.

“We do not stand aside in the contributions,” he said, recalling that collectivities pay taxes and ensure millions of hours of voluntary work, taking culture, recreation and sport to locations where other services have disappeared.

In the district of Santarém there are about 1,900 collectivities, clubs and associations, with 28,500 leaders and more than 200,000 associates, according to Júlio Costa, a member of the Confederation's leadership.

The leader highlighted the need to rehabilitate facilities, saying that “many communities still have asbestos roofs and have no money to replace”, situation aggravated by the storms and lack of support.

Júlio Costa pointed out the Cineclub of Torres Novas, with outdoor cinema sessions attended by families, and SIRMA, in Árgea, as a space for the assembly of the population, as examples of the community role of the associations.

“Collectivities continue to be the life of some localities,” he insisted, considering that their disappearance “would take away the color and joy of living with many populations.”.

Jorge Feliciano assured that the Confederation will not give up the demands and will evaluate new initiatives in the National Council scheduled for the beginning of December, after the vote on the State Budget.