The government embezzled funds 12 times to municipalities without a forest protection plan

Between 2018 and 2021, there were 12 processes to withhold 20% of the twelfth transfer from the state to municipalities without a forest fire protection plan, and currently three municipalities have not yet received a release of funds.

Between 2018 and 2021, state budget laws called for withholding next month 20% of the twelfth of current transfers from the Financial Balance Fund (FFF) to municipalities that did not have municipal forest protection plans. Against Fires (PMDFCI) approved or updated until March 31st.

The non-compliance penalty envisaged in these four years was, however, eliminated, missing from the state budgets for 2022 and 2023, the Ministry of Territorial Unity indicates in a May 5 reply to Luse.

The Guardianship elaborates that in 2019, “withholdings were made in three municipalities” and the funds were “subsequently released after a resolution of the non-compliance in question was demonstrated.”

In 2020, in view of the entry into force of the Accounting Standardization System for public administrations and in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, deductions for non-compliance with information obligations “were suspended”, resumed in 2021, in which “they were held in nine municipalities “.

That same year, the Ministry of the Environment confirmed to Lusa that it withheld €123,000 per month from ongoing transfers to Câmara de Torres Vedras due to a delay in the delivery of PMDFCI.

“Currently, the funds of three municipalities have not yet been released, while the funds of the remaining ones have already been released after demonstrating the ordering of non-compliance,” Territorial Cohesion says, emphasizing that “each case of non-compliance was analyzed individually.”

The conservation decision “was applied only when it became clear that the responsibility did not lie outside the municipality”.

However, the ministry does not disclose the amount withheld each year or the municipalities in which the withholding took place.

According to the Institute for Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), in September 2018, about a year after the large October fires that engulfed mainly the Central Region, 61 municipalities were in default.

Among them were the municipalities of Castaneira de Pera and Pedrogan Grande, where a large fire that broke out on June 17, 2017 claimed the lives of 66 people, and four of the 14 municipalities where 49 deaths were recorded in fires in October of that year – Tondela, Tabua, Carregal do Sal and Arganil.

In June 2019, ICNF data showed that 53 municipalities still did not have PMDFCI.

Already in May 2020, the institute revealed the existence of three municipalities without PMDFCI – São João da Madeira, Porto and Amadora – and mentioned that another 131 had outdated plans.

In June 2021, the number of municipalities without PMDFCI rose to 90, of which 29 already had a positive ICNF opinion and only one did not have a plan.

Territorial Unity, when asked about new penalties for non-compliance, said it “is not currently preparing any penalties” for those who do not have a valid PMDFCI, emphasizing that municipalities “recognize the importance of having and updating these plans.”

“Financial punishment for municipalities that, for various reasons (technical or legal), are unable to implement and/or update their PMDFCIs is a sign contrary to what was intended. The municipalities are primarily interested in fulfilling this obligation and, in the absence of these, the plans suffer first,” adds the ministry, headed by Anna Abrunhosa.

Instead of punishing them twice, the Government, underlines guardianship, “is interested in helping to develop plans and understand what is not working in territories where they are not carried out.”

This territory management tool is mandatory for all municipalities in the Portuguese mainland with a validity period of 10 years in the case of 3rd generation plans and five years if it is a 1st or 2nd generation PMDFCI.

According to information provided by ICNF, as of April 13 this year, out of 278 municipalities on the continent, 28 did not have a valid PMDFCI and one did not have a plan.

Under current law, once a mandatory positive opinion is issued, PDMFCIs must be approved by a simple majority vote in the municipal assembly within 45 days, after which they will be published in the Diário da República. Only after this publication the document comes into force.

Last week, the home secretary urged mayors to keep civil defense contingency plans and municipal forest fire protection plans up to date.

The ICNF clarified that PMDFCIs are “applied” until they are replaced by new sub-regional programs, not yet approved, under the new Integrated Rural Fire Management System.