In the closing speech of the PS/Algarve Federative Congress, in Lagos, António Costa underlined that there can be no “emptiness of the region” between the State and the municipalities and that it is essential that the Commissions for Coordination and Regional Development (CCDR) “are not limited to designing regional development plans, managing community funds or valuing the planning plans” that municipalities propose to them.
The government approved a resolution in the Council of Ministers on Thursday that begins the transfer and division of powers from regional government departments to the CCDR, in nine areas, a reform the executive hopes to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
The awards to be transferred relate to the fields of economy, culture, education, vocational training, health, nature and forest conservation, infrastructure, spatial planning and agriculture.
“We cannot have the regional directorate of Agriculture on the one hand, the regional entities of Economy on the other, those of Infrastructure on the other, Health on the one hand, Education on the other. (…) And there is only one way for this to happen, and that is that everyone stops answering to their minister and everyone starts answering to the president of the region who is elected by the mayors of the region. step we’re going to take,” he added.
For António Costa, for the regions to be sources of regional development, it is necessary to “integrate the range of services essential to regional development”, emphasizing that it is not about “abolishing services, relocating institutions or the firing of someone”, but rather causing these organisms to “row simultaneously in the same direction”.
According to the socialist leader, this is the next step to take, although it is not easy either, he admitted, because “Portugal went very quickly from a rural society to an urban society” and people were left with a “small farm in their head”, illustrated.
“I have mine here too, but as we know we don’t develop with small farmers and so we really need to parcel out, we really need to be able to scale up, we really need to be able to collaborate. Because only by working together, all in an integrated way, Let’s make the leap,” he concluded.
The CCDRs are currently decentralized services of the central administration, endowed with administrative and financial autonomy, responsible for carrying out measures for the development of the respective regions, such as the management of community funds.
The PS/Algarve federal congress ended a day of federal congresses that took place across the country over the weekend.
Source: DN
