The president of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) on Thursday assumed she would continue to demand the payment of EUR 156 million to municipalities in connection with spending in the fight against Covid-19, after the government said it would couldn’t.
“The ANMP will not fail to uphold this defense, we have an ongoing negotiation process. We understand that, even after the approval of the state budget, there will be conditions to ensure, including through resources to non-national funds, these costs, so we will proceed with the proposal for the settlement of that amount,” said Luísa Salgueiro during a hearing in the Assembly of the Republic, after being questioned by PCP deputy Paula Santos.
A total of 156 million euros is claimed by the municipalities from the central government as total expenditure they had in the fight against covid-19, according to an assessment by the Court of Audit, an amount that is not included in the national budget for 2023 (OE2023), such as expected.
“At the moment we are not in a position to respond to this question from the ANMP. The only opening we have, and which we have already passed on, fell within the scope of support from the European Union Solidarity Fund. [que representa um total de 60 milhões de euros]said the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, who oversees the municipalities, in an interview with Lusa released today.
At the joint hearing in the Budget and Finance and Public Administration, Territorial Planning and Local Power Committees, which took place this morning, Left Bloc (BE) deputy José Soeiro said that this government argument “is not reasonable”, referring to that “there would be there will be no lack” of means to repay the municipalities.
In response, Luísa Salgueiro stressed that the minister said it is not possible to fully support these allegations through the European Union Solidarity Fund.
“There are several sources of funding that the government can call on to support this amount, although it may not be complete. We will continue to negotiate with the government because, if it is not this way, the government will not be able to pay through the fund – whatever the other is, it’s not up to us to find the funding source,” he insisted.
The chairman of ANMP, which also heads the Matosinhos City Council in the Porto district, noted that this claim by the municipalities is “honest” and will therefore continue.
PSD deputy João Prata praised the “sacrificial spirit” of the municipalities in “not recognizing the central mistake” made by the national government, noting that the “little money” received by the municipalities came from the European fund and not from the government .
In addition to the expense allowance for covid-19, the ANMP defended, among other things, the reduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) for school meals and energy, because it was “reasonable” that the minimum rate of this tax was applied.
On the sidelines of the hearing, Luísa Salgueiro told Lusa that she expected the deputies to put forward proposals that would change the government’s proposal for the state budget and go against the proposals of the municipalities, recalling that all the unfulfilled claims of the ANMP have now been adopted by the Assembly. of the Republic.
“The government has already presented its document and the ANMP has already made its assessment. Today we came to parliament and now it is up to the parliamentary groups to propose amendments to the state budget so that it can enter into force and that it document to be approved takes into account these changes,” he concluded.
Source: DN
