Local power needs revised laws to meet needs

All the speakers invited to the opening session of the conference “50 years of the first local elections”, which took place today in the Senate Hall of the Assembly of the Republic, agreed on what needs to be reviewed to strengthen the role of local government: local electoral laws, the Local Finance Act and the Statute of Local Elections.

“ It is necessary to ask what we want to do in the next 50 [years]”, Pedro Pimpão, president of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP), proposed, defending the deepening of the decentralization of skills to the local power, but accompanying it from the necessary human and financial resources.

“We cannot ask for more responsibilities without guaranteeing them resources and autonomy to respond,” said Pombal City Mayor (PSD).

“ The municipalities cannot solve everything, we need a State that continues to fulfill its responsibilities ", appealed.

Pimpão considers that the new Local Finance Act should ensure predictability, stability and equitable distribution of resources, recalling that “the municipalities are now responsible for 40% of the country’s public investment”.

“Local power is a daily construction,” he said, paying homage to local authorities and workers.

The mayor also recalled that the Statute of Local Elections was thought of in 1987 and must be appropriate for the 21st century.

“ It is time to review the Statute of Local Elects”, agreed the Minister for Economic Affairs and Territorial Cohesion, speaker at the same session, projecting “more qualified, financially more predictable, technologically more prepared authorities”.

The central administration should be “less attached to control” and more focused on the definition of rules, on a “mature relationship” with local power, because “decentralizing well does not diminish the state, makes it more capable”, said Manuel Castro Almeida.

The future of local government goes through “simplifying local legislation and bringing it together in a single code”, harmonizing standards, Mr Moreira, chairman of the State Reform and Local Power Commission, host of the conference.

The deputy of the PSD, who highlighted local power as “the conquest of April that most profoundly changed the daily life of the Portuguese”, also asked that “funding take into account the inequalities of resources” between municipalities.

The Minister for Economic Affairs and Territorial Cohesion agreed, stressing that “simplifying does not mean reducing guarantees but making the rules clearer”.

“Today’s country is no longer the country of 1976,” said Manuel Castro Almeida, exemplifying: the challenge is no longer to build a school and has become to ensure that there are enough children to keep it open.

The focus today is on the economic and social development of the territories, capturing investment, attracting companies and creating jobs are the major challenges of local power today, together with support for the most deprived populations, he listed.

The minister noted that the municipalities “can see what the national indicators often do not show” and recalled the ongoing review of the map and criteria of low density territories, so that one can “think public policies adjusted” to their needs. “The low density cannot be treated as an immobile category,” he said.

The representatives of the associations of the Municipal Assemblies and the Boards of Freguesy agreed on the need to review the various laws governing local government.

Francisco Brito, president of the National Association of Freguesias (Anafre), recalled that these are not yet accepted as entities that can compete for European funds and called on political parties to “leave aside the ideologies” and mark the date of the 50 years of the first local elections with new laws and necessary reforms.