The mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, Eduardo Vitor Rodríguez, said this Wednesday that he is “confident” and “optimistic” that the agreement between the National Association of Municipalities (ANMP) and the municipalities will be signed at the end of this month.
“I am optimistic that the agreement will be signed in July,” Eduardo Vitor Rodríguez said in response to criticism voiced by the Social Democrat adviser Cansela Moura during an executive meeting regarding the process of decentralization of powers in the field of education.
On June 25, ANMP President Luisa Salgueiro assured that measures would be “announced and formalized” that would “overcome” doubts about the decentralization process that some mayors had pointed out.
“We are working very hard in a positive manner so that we can sign an agreement that overcomes many of the reservations the mayors have expressed so far. Measures and solutions will be formalized and announced that will overcome the many reasons that led to this feeling,” said Luisa Salgueiro.
Negotiations between the government and the ANMP were put on hold in areas such as education, health and social action, which included the transfer of staff, equipment, and therefore financial sums.
The funds to be transferred were the main reason for the difficulties, as the municipalities consider them insufficient for the intended results in education and health.
The delay in the publication of the diplomas resulted in the extension of the deadline for the final acceptance of these powers by the municipalities from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. In the case of Social Action, since the industry diploma was already published this year, the deadline has been extended until the end of this year.
On April 1, when municipalities were expected to finally take over health and education powers, less than half of the respective municipalities (201 in health and 278 in education) took over these powers voluntarily.
As for the remaining 17 competencies, the Government considered them transferred on January 1, 2021 in the fields of culture, housing construction, justice, public services, public real estate management, communications, beaches, port areas, transport on inland waterways, Joint management of protected areas , civil protection, policing, fire safety, public parking, games of chance and chance, tree planting and reforestation, and fire brigade associations.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
