12 years later, Rui Moreira says goodbye with a record budget of 450 million

Urban regeneration, social housing and energy transition are the main targets of the mayor’s latest budget. “There are positive things”, but it does not please the left, which finds some parameters “embarrassing”.

It is the largest budget since Rui Moreira took the reins of the Porto City Council (CMP), in 2013. IN 2025, the mayor completes the 12-year limit to exercise his functions.

His farewell broke the record: 450 million euros, which translates into an increase of 9.2% (38 million euros) compared to 412 the previous year. The increase is more significant when compared to the CMP president’s first budget in 2013, 152%, of around 178 million from the first term.

The “clarity and ease of reading” of the document deserved praise, with acclaim, in the form of a joint and unanimous declaration of vote, writes .

R$ 128.5 million are dedicated to the Multi-Year Investment Plan (PPI), and R$ 50.6 million are allocated to urban requalification (39.4% of the PPI). Social housing receives 17.7 million euros (13.8% of the PPI), and energy/energy transition receives 7.7 million euros (6% of the PPI). Finally, R$7.2 million (5.6% of the PPI) are reserved for municipal equipment and programs.

For the PS, which abstained from voting on the municipal budget, the document “has good things”, such as the 5% increase in culture, the exemplary execution of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) or the penalty of IMI in vacant buildings, but leaves something to be desired.

Support for the homeless “could be deeper”, and for housing “there is an absence of a concrete policy for the working middle class”, said Rosário Gambôa, from the PS, cited by JN.

The mayor himself recognized some flaws when it comes to public transportnamely the works, a factor criticized by the opposition, but although it regrets the non-Metrobus delaywhich “in August, said it would be operational at the start of classes” and still isn’t, Moreira claims that “the work has not yet been handed over to the City Hall, so, for our part, we cannot consider it to be completed”.

The problem of the lack of houses is complex, guarantees the mayor, and “public housing will also be for people with average income”, he guaranteed, explaining the European context in which “income from work does not keep up with the rise in housing construction prices new”. There is a “growing demand”, he said, and the “problem will not be resolved easily”, both in Porto and in the country.

BE and CDU voted against the budget, as they considered that “there is no clear strategy in the municipal housing charter, which should be a priority”, according to Sérgio Aires, from BE, who also finds it “embarrassing” that there are only 1.3 million euros reserved for social cohesion says, cited by .

Ilda Figueiredo, from the CDU, insisted on the lack of housing at controlled costs for the middle class, with “prices that cannot be paid by the most disadvantaged”.

The PSD voted in favor, praising the application of the PRR so far — the budget of 450 million euros “is a challenge”, said Ricardo Valente.