Vetoes parliamentary decree ‘restoring parish councils’ to pre-troika map
President Marcelo has put the kibosh on the hopes of dozens of parish councils, absorbed in a ‘cost cutting exercise’ during the harsh years of austerity led by the troika of lenders (IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank).
Parliament only voted a few weeks ago to ‘restore the landscape’ (dismantling 135 aggregate parishes to return to the 302 individual entities, which would all require new officials, implying as much as €30 million in extra expenses per year).
Because of this, and because of the looming municipal elections in the autumn, Marcelo vetoed the parliamentary decree yesterday, “raising doubts about the transparency of the process and the ability to apply it”.
In a note on the official website of the presidency, Marcelo also pointed out (as other parties have done) that the implied expenses are “contradictory to the dominant line, inspired by European institutions”.
Parliament can now, if it wishes, reconfirm its intention (in which case, the presidential veto would be overridden) – but Marcelo’s advice is for “long and serene consideration”, choosing which parishes truly should be allowed to stand alone, and which do not need to, thus replacing the map as it is now with “a better one for Portugal”.
All this being said, Jorge Veloso, president of the national association of parish councils (ANAFRE), is troubled – expressing his ‘shock and perplexity’ today, suggesting the president’s attitude “will harm council leaders and populations”.
“What shocks us even more is that in April 2024, the President of the Republic awarded Anafre the Order of Freedom (…). This Order was not for Anafre itself, but for its council leaders. Not even a year later, the President of the Republic has an attitude that shocks us. What is at stake here is that the President has a position that is against the council leaders, against their populations and against all the work that MPs have done in parliament, and for us this is shocking”, he repeated.
ANAFRE clearly believed this parliamentary decree would go through, if not for this year (due to the looming municipal elections) then for 2026.
