The decision by President Marcelo to ‘veto’ the decree restoring parish councils ‘merged’ during the troika years has truly gone down like a lead balloon. So much kick-back has come in the last 24-hours that ANAFRE, the national association of parish councils, has today called on all parties that originally supported the decree to speak out publicly, and ensure the disaggregation goes forwards. PS Socialists have already leapt to the defence of the decree, saying they are ready to vote it all back again (in which case, Marelo’s veto will be overridden). The parties that originally supported the disaggregation of parish councils were PSD, PS, Bloco de Esquerda, PCP, LIVRE and PAN. Since Marcelo’s veto however, PSD has said it needs to ‘evaluate’ the president’s veto before announcing whether or not it intends to confirm the diploma. The disaggregation answers the ‘will of the people’ (who were largely very unhappy by the 2013 to merge dozens of parish councils) but it comes with a heavy cost: roughly €30 million in extra public spending per year.
National uproar over president’s ‘parish council disaggregation veto’
ANAFRE are 'on the warpath', hell bent on getting this measure through as quickly as possible. Image: Manuel de Almeida/ Lusa
