The Government will not negotiate the general conditions of the decentralization process directly with the municipality of Porto. The one who endorses it is the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, who in an interview with the newspaper Público -published this Tuesday- ruled out the hypothesis: “It has already been made very clear, said by the President of the Government himself, that we are negotiating with the Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP). It would be unthinkable to do a city-to-city negotiation“.
The rules will be defined with the ANMP. Porto will apply what applies to other municipalities“said the minister.
About a week ago, the municipality of Porto approved in the Municipal Assembly the departure of the National Association of Municipalities, which the municipality accuses of not defending the interests of the municipalities (such as Porto) in the negotiation process with the Government on decentralization. Rui Moreira, president of the local council, then defended: “The solution is simple: we want to be able to negotiate with the state. the people who are there [na ANMP] they can defend other interests, they can have partisan or ideological concerns, but I don’t feel that our municipality is represented”.
Now, in an interview with Público, the Minister of Territorial Cohesion vetoes the possibility of opening direct negotiations with the municipality. Despite promising “dialogue” with “all the mayors”, Ana Abrunhosa stressed: “With the ANMP, negotiations and rules are defined. What message would we convey to others 307 [municípios]?”.
Asked if the criticisms of the decentralization negotiation process have “partisan motivations”, the minister replied: “I admit that the municipalities want to be able to respond to the populations. If in one case or another this is used to have some media prominence, it is punctual. It does not seem worthy to me to characterize the set of mayors”. And he defended that the criticisms and demands must be made “within the ANMP to strengthen its negotiating position” with the Government: “Making the discussion within the ANMP is the way that seems most reasonable to me also defend other municipalities that do not have as much bargaining power.”
Source: Observadora
