The PS in the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon warned this Tuesday that it will not write a blank check to Carlos Moedas (PSD) to govern the city, urging the mayor to present the next municipal budget on time.
In a conversation with journalists on the occasion of a year of municipal elections, Manuel Portugal Laje, leader of the socialist caucus in the Municipal Assembly (AM) of Lisbon, said that the deputies have not had time to adequately analyze the proposals sent to them by the chamber , often at the last minute, noting that they won’t “let in crazy things that aren’t sustainable” and will need time to make adjustments.
PS doesn’t want everything to go wrong. We don’t want to win the chamber three years from now and have the chamber like the one we had when Dr. António Costa won Lisbon,” he said.
“So we’re not going to go through it blind. Either the president explains, or we are not going to approve the budget”, even if he has to govern the chamber with twelfths, he said, stressing that Carlos Moedas does not govern with an absolute majority and “he has to understand that there are issues in which he really has to” consult the AM
Manuel Laje said that “there is permanent blackmail from the mayor regarding AM, by sending proposals from Tuesday to Friday.”
As an example of measures that he would have liked to have looked at further, he pointed to the free passes for students, which were approved unanimously.
In addition to the complaints of higher education students without tax residence in Lisbon, which Carlos Moedas said he was already trying to resolve, Manuel Laje stressed that the measure also leaves out 12th grade repeaters or those who have missed at least one year for some reason. in secondary education, because the formulation establishes that only young people who attend non-higher education up to the age of 18 have the right to a free pass.
If he had had time to verify these “nuances” of the law, the PS would not have approved it without correcting these injustices, he assured.
“If we want to study the proposal a little more, they accuse us of being a blocking force”, he stressed, stressing that, of 700 proposals in the Lisbon Chamber, the PS only failed in four, while in the AM the Socialists did not. he voted against any proposal, although he has sent some for analysis in committees.
We approve the measures that are beneficial for the city, which are the majority, but we do not give engineer Carlos Moedas blank checks so that he can govern the city as he wants,” he said, noting that this year the PS makes a point of listening to all the directors before approving the document.
Manuel Laje also accused the executive of Carlos Moedas of not assuming responsibilities, particularly in the management of garbage in the city, and even considered that there was “a political strategy to make responsible” the parish councils, mostly socialists, to harm to PS.
A year after the start of Moedas’ mandate in Lisbon, the Socialists also highlighted promises that remained unfulfilled, such as the Almirante Reis cycle path, “which was supposed to be taken out the next day, but is now awaiting a study” that is still not ready, in addition to the unicorn factory in Beato, the 50% reduction in EMEL rates for residents, among others.
He also pointed out that there are signed commitments that come from behind and that continuity must be given, such as the general drainage plan, which has been going on for six years, and the World Youth Days.
Municipal budgets must be presented annually before October 31.
Source: Observadora
