Isaltino Morais, mayor of Oeiras, did not like the agreement on the decentralization of powers signed between the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) and the Government, in July, and says that it is limited to transferring the “odious” to the municipalities .
In an open letter published in the newspaper Nascer do Sol, this Saturday, he criticized the president of the ANMP, Luísa Salgueiro, accusing the association of being an “echo chamber” of the Government and of having transformed the municipalities into “mere accountants ” of central power.
Government yields to demands of mayors in agreement for decentralization. Final decision postponed for another two weeks
This Saturday the VI National Meeting of Mayors, promoted by the ANMP, will take place at the Cidade de Viseu Pavilion. But considering that “everything” is “decided”, therefore, “there is nothing more to decide” and that the ANMP killed “the birth discussion”, Isaltino Morais refuses to be present.
The decentralization agreement, signed in July, is nothing more than a “transfer of what is hateful to the municipalities,” he criticizes. For this reason, this Saturday’s meeting, a “social meeting of mayors”, will be “a long wake for the local power that Portugal once had”.
The meeting will be attended by the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, the Mayor of Viseu, Fernando Ruas, and the President of the ANMP and the Municipality of Matosinhos, Luísa Salgueiro.
Government and National Association of Portuguese Municipalities sign agreement for decentralization in education and health
Source: Observadora
