Filipe Amorim / LUSA
The Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida
The separation of parishes is at stake. Minister of Economy also warned of likely layoffs post-PRR.
In September, the Government delivered a bill to parliament that clarifies procedures within the scope of disaggregation of 302 parishes after the October municipal elections, ensuring payment of employees of these municipalities between the elections and the end of the year.
According to the proposed law, the General Directorate of Local Authorities (DGAL) will anticipate the transfer to the parish unions to be extinguished “of the funds from the Parishes and Surplus Financing Fund”, foreseen in the State Budget for 2025, relating to November and December.
The Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion warned this Tuesday of the need for parliament to approve this proposed law “to guarantee salaries for November and December” to workers in the 302 disaggregated parishes, considering “unwise to do nothing”.
“We have to ensure that the process goes well. And, at this moment, we cannot guarantee that it goes well. It is prudent that the law is approved and in a timely manner. The Government wants to help resolve the problem in a climate of good cooperation”, stated Manuel Castro Almeida, during a regulatory hearing at the State Reform and Local Government committee of the Assembly of the Republic.
According to the minister, “the solution proposed in the law [que o Governo entregou no parlamento em finais de setembro] is to authorize the General Directorate of Local Authorities to transfer the months of November and December, in advance, to the parish unions, which would then be responsible for making payments until the end of the year”.
The government official noted that, on November 12, when it is necessary for DGAL to process the twelfths owed to the parishes, there will be “some already sworn in and others not”, at the same time that “those already sworn in take a long time to obtain the NIB [número de identificação bancária]”.
Castro Almeida reinforced that the priority is to guarantee payment to workers who “Today, they are workers of the Union of Parishes and will become workers of individual parishes”.
“The month of October has already been transferred. When we reach November 12th, where will DGAL transfer the twelfths? We don’t want to create a case but the absence of law can create a case – and the case is that there employees without salary at the end of the monthwhich is something that shouldn’t happen in the 21st century.”
Post-PRR layoffs
Portugal will receive 1.06 billion euros from the seventh payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (MRR) of the NextGenerationEU program, the European Commission announced this Tuesday.
Minutes after this announcement, the Economy Minister was asked about the matter, expressed his satisfaction, but left a warning about what could happen from 2027 onwards.
There are planned projects that will not be implemented until 2026, the last year of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR): “The central State and local authorities must prepare to live from 2027 onwards without PRR resources, for investment and even some human resources that were specially hired to develop the PRR and that will no longer have PRR financing”.
The minister warned that, in some cases, there may be layoffs: “It is not justified for people to continue working. In other cases, they are meeting permanent needs and this will create a constraint on the budget.”
“Portugal has been living in a climate of almost total dependence on European funds; on average 85% of public investment made in Portugal is made with European funds. It is desirable that Portugal starts to use an increasing share of its budget in investment”, commented Castro Almeida.
