Deadlines for disaggregating parishes met

According to Jorge Veloso, president of the National Association of Parishes (Anafre), the procedures provided for by law for the disaggregation of 302 parishes are underway and are taking place within the deadlines “without problems”, since, in almost all cases, the mayors began to worry about the division of the assets as soon as they submitted the disaggregation request.

The same was confirmed by parishes in the process of disintegration contacted by Lusa and which, by May 31, had to have approved inventories detailing all movable and immovable assets, universalities, rights and obligations of the parish of origin to be transferred to the new parishes, including the identification of the allocation of human resources to each parish to be restored.

In Valongo, the president of the Campo/Sobrado Parish Union (UF), Alfredo Sousa, revealed that the inventory was completed, “with the division of equipment, materials and human resources”, warning, however, that until the parishes are replaced it may have to be changed due to the need to purchase material.

“We haven’t shared the money yet, because we have competitions and services underway. It’s not easy to consider these things,” the mayor pointed out, admitting that he is concerned about the preparation of the budget for the future two parishes.

“What will the plan and budget be like? The two structures will have to make a plan and budget for two and a half or three months. It is difficult to reconcile all these things now. In our case, we are within the deadline”, he assured.

In the municipality of Tondela, district of Viseu, Barreiro de Besteiros and Tourigo are going through their second “divorce” (the first was in 1986, with the creation of the parish of Tourigo).

“The distribution of the assets had already been decided when the proposal was presented to the Assembly of the Republic. Everything that was acquired afterwards will be distributed naturally and without major problems”, the president of this UF, José Hélder Alves, told Lusa.

According to the mayor, the choice of the headquarters of the future parishes “is also peaceful, because the buildings already exist, everyone knows where they will be, it is just a matter of putting the name of the street on paper”.

“People have common sense and want disaggregation, which I prefer to call replacement,” he stressed.

In the district of Portalegre, the president of the UF of Ponte de Sor, Tramaga and Vale de Açor guaranteed that the municipality is meeting the stipulated deadlines and that this was one of the “main concerns”.

José Manuel dos Santos acknowledged that the process of inventorying the assets “was the most complicated” but, “thanks to the team [parliament employees]”, the problem was overcome.

“When I did the aggregation in 2013, I was careful to [place] everything that belonged to the former parish of Tramaga on one side, the former parish of Vale de Açor on the other and everything that belonged to the former parish of Ponte de Sor on the other, and all the assets acquired after the union of the parishes were placed in another separate group. It was hard work, but our task was made easier because I had everything properly planned,” he added.

In Sintra, the current 11 parishes of this municipality in the district of Lisbon will increase to 15, with the approval of the disaggregations of the three parish unions of Almargem do Bispo, Pêro Pinheiro and Montelavar, Queluz and Belas and São João das Lampas and Terrugem.

The president of the UF of São João das Lampas and Terrugem, Guilherme Ponce de Leão (independently elected by the PSD), admitted to Lusa that he “was against aggregation”, but is now “against disaggregation”.

“The State spent millions on aggregation and now it will spend a lot of money on disaggregation”, stated Ponce de Leão, considering that the aggregated parishes allowed for a lot of public money to be saved and alerting the Sintra Council to the need to support the future installation committees of the parishes to be disaggregated in the administrative issues of the process.

The president of the UF of Almargem do Bispo, Pêro Pinheiro and Montelavar, Rui Maximiano (PS), confirmed that he is “following the will of the parish assembly, which is sovereign”, in the disaggregation and that by the end of the month he will ratify the final maps of transfer of assets, understanding that the population sees advantages in a “closer management”.

However, currently “there is an economy of scale that will be lost”, he added.

A declared opponent of the disintegration, the president of the UF of Queluz and Belas, Paula Alves (PS), said that she is following the decisions taken by the appropriate bodies and everything is “running normally”, despite “some difficulties”, as the parish services “cannot stop”.

Also in the district of Lisbon, the UF of A-dos-Cunhados and Maceira, in the municipality of Torres Vedras, has already approved by majority the inventory of assets, territorial limits and toponymy, in an extraordinary parish assembly held in the last days of May.

“The disintegration process was so difficult that we are not going to be bothered by the process of dividing the assets”, assured the president, Nuno Cosme, guaranteeing that the process has been “peaceful” and that “nothing will get in the way” of its completion within the deadlines and in time for the local elections.

Lusa tried to consult Algarve parish unions to understand how the disintegration process was going in the Faro district, without success.

In the next local elections, which will be held at the end of September or beginning of October, 135 unions will be disaggregated to restore 302 of the parishes aggregated by the administrative reform of 2012, according to a law approved by parliament on January 17 and reconfirmed by the Assembly of the Republic on March 6.

After the election of the respective bodies, with the new name, these local authorities will be formally reinstated.

Meanwhile, preparatory work is underway: after being drawn up and approved by the extinction committee, the inventories of the UF to be disaggregated must be ratified by the parish assemblies by June 30.

By July 1st, the 302 installation committees must take office, a temporary body that will ensure the installation and operation of the local authorities reinstated after the local elections.