Miguel Relvas, former Deputy Minister and Parliamentary Affairs
Former minister of Passos Coelho criticizes the reversal of the parish reform he created in 2013: it is the citizens who will bear the desegregation through taxes, believes Miguel Relvas.
Former minister of Pedro Passos Coelho’s social-democratic government and responsible for the 2013 reform that abolished 1,168 parishes in Portugal, Miguel Revas considers that the current process of disaggregation of the law that was created more than 10 years ago It is an “error and a civilizational setback”he said, in statements to .
Next Friday, January 17, parliament will vote on a bill supported by six parties – PSD, PS, PCP, BE, LIVRE and PAN – which provides for the creation of 295 new ones, partially reversing the measure.
Surprised by the PSD’s support for the reversal measure, Relvas remembers that it reverses a reform implemented by the party itself in the past. For the former minister, the process shows that parties, including the PSD, are more interested in the prevalence of “politiquice” and not so much in the national interest, with smaller and more fragile municipalities being the main promoters of the creation of new parishes.
“Lisbon, Porto, Cascais, Braga, the large municipalities in the country will maintain the number of parishes. The smallest, the most fragile, those who have the most difficulties, are the ones who will enter this process. Once again, politics overrides the national interest”, says Miguel Relvas.
The former minister argues that the 2013 reform brought significant gains by reducing the number of municipal positions and companies by around 50%: “we gained parishes with financial capacity, with the scale to better serve the populations”.
For the former minister, the new map of parishes will compromise the decentralization of competences and will increase the cost for citizenswhich will support the increase in positions through taxes.
“It is a civilizational setback, in my opinion, it is a mistake for the organization of the country, and even more of a difficulty in transferring powers from the central administration to the local administration”, he also says, admitting however that, after ten years, they could be specific adjustments were made, such as the correction of borders in some parishes. But he questions whether the creation of almost 300 new parishes can be considered a simple “agreement” or whether it is, as he argues, a “revolution in the bad sense”.
The proposal will be voted on this week and, if approved, will define a new parish map in time for municipal elections scheduled for September or October.
