The executive of the City Council of Coimbra approved this Monday the beginning of the procedure with a view to the creation of a new municipal program to support culture, from which PS and CDU abstained.
The purpose of the procedure is to prepare the Municipal Support Program for the Cultural Ecosystem (PMAEC) and the repeal of current regulations, providing for a “more transversal, strategic and appropriate instrument for contemporary reality, which frames, systematizes, regulates and sustains the universe.” local culture,” said the Coimbra City Council.
The proposal, approved with votes in favor of the Together We Are Coimbra coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/Ciudadanos!/PPM/Aliança/RIR and Volt)it deserved the abstention of the councilor of the CDU and the four councilors of the PS.
According to the Chamber of Coimbra, this decision is related to the fact of creating an instrument “wider, transversal and qualitatively comprehensive” and that also reflects, “explicitly and indirectly, a strategic, medium-long-term vision of the Chamber’s executive.”
The measure occurs in a context of review of the cultural policy of the municipality and it is expected that the PMAEC will be concluded until the end of the year.
The councilor of the PS Carina Gomes, who has been in charge of culture in the last two legislatures, stressed that, although the executive has all the legitimacy to present a new regulation or instrument to support the cultural fabric, she considered that the proposal does not present the balance or analysis carried out around the current regulations.
“If there is a balance and an analysis has been made, this document should be presented to us,” he defended.
Carina Gomes also criticized the idea of incorporating the municipal strategy –which has not yet been presented– in the program, anticipating that the new instrument will lead to a blurring of the evaluation criteria and will allow a “discretionary allocation of municipal financing, more based on other assessments than on the municipal public interest”.
The criticisms of the CDU councilor, Francisco Queirós, also followed the same line of thought, stating that, when analyzing the proposal, he was “looking for annexes, of that analysis” that the document does not present, for considering the proposal little. deep and “very vague”.
The mayor of Coimbra, José Manuel Silva, stressed that this document establishes only the opening of the procedurewith another document that appears at a later stage.
“We are just deciding to open the process,” justified the mayor, elected by the Together We Are Coimbra coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/We, Citizens!/PPM/Aliança/RIR and Volt).
Also in the period prior to the agenda, José Manuel Silva announced the retirement of the director of the Department of Culture, Francisco Paz.
The current head of the Culture and Tourism division, Paulo Pires, who drew up the proposal to open the procedure for the new cultural support program, will replace Francisco Paz, he said.
The mayor also informed that the future head of division will not be part of the municipal staff, highlighting the importance of bringing someone “with an outside vision, who adds and enriches”, as was done with Paulo Pires, who served in the past functions in the General Directorate of the Arts and in the Ministry of Culture.
Also in the period prior to the agenda, the mayor pointed out the impacts that the municipal leadership had on his health, with “18 hours of work a day” and “consequences on health habits”, such as eating out.
José Manuel Silva, a doctor by profession, said that his weight and blood pressure had increased due to having opted for a salt-free diet, taking advantage of his example to appeal to the reduction of salt in food and cooking.
“Hopefully we don’t end up with a mayor without salt,” said PS Councilor Regina Bento.
“But with a lot of pepper”, answered José Manuel Silva.
Source: Observadora
