The PSD/Algarve has come out in force over government plans to cut €3 million from Algarve council budgets.
In the unenviable position of being expected to accept what comes down from Lisbon, the Algarve arm of the PSD has nonetheless said this latest cost-cutting measure is unthinkable.
District leader Luís Gomes (pictured) has called an urgent meeting with the secretary of state for local administration António Leitão Amaro, saying that the Algarve needs “special attention” – not more cuts.
The PSD/ Algarve president vows the region is being doubly penalised, as the crisis has brought higher taxes while income has bombed. He maintains councils have a duty to keep their services and infrastructures buoyant, particularly as the Algarve is a tourist region with a large amount of summertime visitors.
The region needs investment “urgently”, he stresses. “Our principal preoccupation should be economic growth through increased investment as a result of money in the next state budget. We do not ignore the efforts the government has made” in the region to date, he concludes, “but we cannot accept that in one single budget the government proposes to take €3 million from the municipalities of the region”.
