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Miguel Relvas, former minister of Pedro Passos Coelho and author of the latest revision of the municipal map, accuses António Costa of being do a mere partisan deal with the communists. António Leitão Amaro, who became Secretary of State for Local Administration in the same Government, agrees: “The Government is wanting to pay political favors and PCP ”.
The government’s intentions went almost unnoticed but they managed to consolidate an issue that had been discussed for a long time behind the scenes. António Costa is even willing to review the municipal map, which may allow the creation of 600 new parish councils A few months before the municipal elections. The news was advanced by the Jornal de Negócios, which even cited the office of the Minister of Public Administration. “The diploma that will establish a regime for the creation, modification and extinction of parishes is in the final stage of preparation and approval,” guaranteed an official source.
The same newspaper reported on the government’s plan approve this new municipal map even before the next local elections, scheduled for October 2021. To do this, the process must be completed before March 31 next year, about six months before the municipal elections.
The revision of the parish map has long been a requirement of the PCP and has motivated pressure within the PS itself. The Observer knows that the question was raised by Maria Luz Rosinha, National Secretary of Local Authorities of the PS, in a meeting closed to the media during the last parliamentary days of the party. After remembering that this was a government commitment for a long time, the Socialist deputy also ended up being applauded by her fellow parliamentarians.
The signals have already reached the PSD. Among some Social Democratic leaders, there are those who suspect that this rush to approve a new municipal map, manifested in full discussion of the State Budget for 2021It is related to the fragility of the ‘contraption’ and the desire to soften the positions of the PCP, which has been losing local influence; in 2017, it even had its worst result in local elections. But for now, no one in the party leadership wants to talk about it. The order is to wait until you really know the diploma designed by the Government.
Miguel RelvasHowever, he has no doubts. In statements to the Observer, the former minister of Pedro Passos Coelho and the main person in charge of the last review, points to the heart of the Government: “It is very difficult for me to see it as a rational and justified measure due to the country’s need to adapt to its new reality, even in demographic terms, now used as’change currency ‘in a mere party business, putting the interest of this or that party before the national interest ”, he says.
The Social Democrat qualifies as a “bad example” the one who is about to give António Costa and does not resist giving another kiss. “When a country navigates like this, in the convenience of each moment is to fear for the shipwreck. An unnecessary setback. “
António Leitão Amaro, who took over as Secretary of State for Local Administration when the review process was already underway, also regrets the path chosen by the Socialist Government. Or is he frivolous and the government is willing to pay political favors to the PCP already a part of the PS machine, or is it the blindness of someone who has not learned anything in the past ”, he says.
The former secretary of state acknowledges that Parliament can and should make “ad hoc corrections” whenever it deems appropriate, as it has done, but these adjustments cannot, he argues, lead to an increase in the number of parishes. “Portugal needs strong parishes, not more parishes. The country cannot bear this. This cannot happen and it is deeply wrong. Tells the Portuguese that nothing has been learned”, He concludes.
In the book The other side of governance: local administration reform, by Miguel Relvas and Paulo Júlio, predecessor of Leitão Amaro as Secretary of State for Local Administration and Administrative Reform, one of the testimonies collected is precisely that of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, then “only” political analyst.
And what did the now president of the Republic say? With the troika in Portugal, the circumstances were different, as Marcelo recognized. “National reforms [devem] be triggered at the moment of greatest vitality of the government – as a general rule, in the first months or years – and, if, as was the case, the reforms are imposed by external entities, and are part of a compromise negotiated and signed by the principal opposition party when there was still government [uma referência ao Governo de José Sócrates], they must advance while this party does not have political space to practically reject or discard the assumed commitment ”.
Furthermore, and despite recognizing strengths and weaknesses in the plan outlined by the PSD / CDS Government, Marcelo had a very clear position of principle. “Do [uma] reform [desta natureza] less than 8 months from the call of local elections always seen as an election campaign gesture or inevitably connected. To further involve the structural changes in the municipalities ”, argued Marcelo.
It is recalled that if the Government manages to approve the new revision of the municipal map (sometime in March) it will be only six months before the local elections. It remains to be seen what Marcelo, the president of the Republic, will say if that moment or when it arrives.
