"The principle of agreement that the municipalities approved yesterday with the Government for the decentralization of competencies in the areas of Education and Health, proves that Vila Nova de Famalicão, as well as many other Portuguese municipalities, were right to refuse until yesterday the proposals suggested by the Central Administration for the two areas". The comment made by Mário Passos, Mayor of Vila Nova de Famalicão, comes after the meeting of the General Council of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP), of which he is an effective member, which took place yesterday, in Coimbra, and in which he accompanied his fellow-mayors in the approval of the new sectorial proposal for Education and Health.
Mário Passos recalls that Famalicão "started by refusing to assume in 2019 the transfer of competences to local authorities conveyed by the sectorial diplomas published at the time, as they were tasks and not competences and, on top of that, unaccompanied by the indispensable guarantees for their execution". Afterwards, he adds, "at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, we again postponed this decision because the necessary conditions were not yet in place, namely at the level of the transfer of the respective financial envelope that would guarantee effective management of the areas".
The "claims of the municipalities were fair and legitimate" and allowed "a more balanced agreement", which reserves more funds for the Municipal Councils, for the maintenance of equipment, for school meals, more balanced financing formulas and the guarantee of modernisation works in equipment that has not yet been intervened. The possibility is also reserved for the Municipalities and Intermunicipal Communities to have some autonomy in the management of Health Centres, for example at the level of opening hours.
Mário Passos speaks of "positive advances" and now expects the Government to "move forward to materialize the agreement". In the case of Vila Nova de Famalicão, in addition to the funding provided, Mário Passos guaranteed the inclusion in the document of a set of works to be performed until 2030, including the rehabilitation and modernization of the Secondary School Padre Benjamin Salgado and the Basic School Bernardino Machado, in Joane, the basic schools D. Maria II, Júlio Brandão and Nuno Simões, in Famalicão and Calendário, and the Basic School of Gondifelos. In terms of Health, the construction of two new health units was guaranteed, in S. Miguel-o-Anjo, Calendário and Joane, and negotiations are still underway with the Regional Health Administration for the inclusion of the rehabilitation of the Health Units based in Famalicão.
