Parish union separation was vetoed by President Marcelo this week
The president of the Algarve Municipalities Association (AMAL) has expressed his “sadness” over President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s surprise parish union separation veto.
“We regret that one man has the power to contradict the will of the Members of Parliament who represent the nation and jeopardise the existence of these parishes in the upcoming local elections,” António Pina told Lusa news agency.
The mayor of Olhão, who will run for mayor of Faro in 2025, insisted that the decision to separate parishes “was not made lightly” and attempted to “slightly correct some of the excesses from the Troika days.”
President Marcelo decided to veto the parliamentary decree to dismantle 135 aggregate parishes and return to 302 individual entities, which would all require new officials, implying as much as €30 million in extra expenses per year.
In a statement on the Presidency of the Republic’s website, Marcelo doubted the “ability to apply” the changes in time for the local elections, due to take place in September or October, naming this the “decisive” matter in his decision to veto the decree.
However, Pina believes that this would not have been an issue if President Marcelo had not vetoed the decree. “The veto will delay the whole process,” the AMAL boss lamented, admitting that the parish separation is unlikely to be ready in time for the elections.
Despite the setback, the mayor of Olhão believes that Parliament will stick with its plan to separate the parish unions, which will effectively ‘force’ the President to “promulgate the law.”
As Lusa news agency explains, if Parliament approves the law again with an absolute majority of all active deputies (more than 50% of all members, not just those present), the President loses his veto power and must approve it within eight days of receiving it, according to article 136 of the Portuguese Constitution.
In the Algarve, the proposal seeks to separate eight parish unions in the Algarve into separate parish councils in Faro (Conceição and Estoi); Loulé (Querença, Tôr, and Benafim); Olhão (Moncarapacho and Fuseta); Lagos (Bensafrim and Barão de São João); Silves (Alcantarilha, Pera, Algoz, and Tunes); and Tavira (Conceição and Cabanas; Luz de Tavira and Santo Estêvão).
