This Wednesday, the Lisbon City Council approved the allocation of seven million euros to the Lisbon Tourism Association (ATL) for the next Web Summit, which will take place from November 13 to 16.
At a closed meeting of the City Council Executive, the proposal to host the 2023 Web Summit in the City of Lisbon was approved by votes from the leadership of PSD/CDS-PP and PS and votes against the remaining elected officials, namely the PCP. , BE, Livre and independent council members elected by the PS/Livre coalition.
In the previous event, in 2022, the allocation of financial support by the municipality – in that year it amounted to 6.3 million euros – was approved by an equal vote of the political forces that make up the municipal executive.
The proposal presented by the Councilor for Economy and Innovation, Diogo Moura (CDS-PP), involves transferring €7,067,864 to ATL to “ensure the transfer and availability of the spaces required for the event and Wi-Fi services.” Fi/ICT.”
On Monday, BE Councilwoman Beatriz Gómez Díaz asked to withdraw the municipal funding proposal for the web summit, feeling that approving it “would be poor management of public money,” but that request was rejected and the initiative was dropped as of this Wednesday. .
“The assumptions of the proposal did not materialize,” BE said in a statement published on Monday, highlighting that over the weekend “the president of the Lisbon City Council was unable to guarantee that the event would take place and in what format.”
On Saturday, Web Summit co-founder Paddy Cosgrave resigned from his position after several companies canceled their participation in the event, which runs from November 13 to 16 in the Portuguese capital, following his statements about the conflict involving Israel and Palestine.
The following day, in statements to the media, Lisbon’s mayor, Social Democrat Carlos Moedas, declined to comment on Paddy Cosgrave’s departure and stressed that the Web Summit was a technology event “very important for the city” and “it is not a political or geopolitical event.”
This Wednesday, Carlos Moedas confirmed this idea, insisting that the event should not be confused with the co-founder’s views on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“We are in daily contact with this event. We know what happened with a comment about geopolitics made by someone who has responsibilities but who is not the Web Summit,” said the Social Democratic mayor, assuring that he “dedicated himself to making sure everything went well.”
“I would really like this, and I believe that it is important for Lisbon that the event goes well. So I will do everything to make this happen. As the mayor of Lisbon, this is my duty,” he said, addressing reporters on the sidelines. presentation of the 1st stage of the Tour of Spain.
The executive body of the Lisbon Chamber consists of 17 members, seven of whom are elected from the Novos Tempos coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Alliance) – the only ones with responsibilities – three from the PS, two from the PCP, three from Cidadaãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), one from Livre and one from BE.
Also on Monday, an official source told Lusa that the web summit would be attended by “more than 300 partners,” some of whom considered returning to the event “and reversed their decision.”
After a wave of criticism, Paddy Cosgrave apologized, which did not stop several companies from withdrawing from the Web Summit.
Among the companies that announced their cancellation at the time were Amazon, Meta, Google, Intel, Siemens and Israeli investors who had previously said they would not participate in the event.
Also, according to the organization, Web Summit teams have been at the event site since Monday morning to arrange and prepare the space.
However, Web Summit will appoint a new CEO (executive president), but an announcement date has not yet been set.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of Economy and the Sea assured that the government remains “committed” to holding the web summit, adding that contacts established with various partners of the event show that conditions exist for it to proceed smoothly.
To date, Gaza Strip authorities have confirmed the deaths of more than 6,500 Palestinians in Israeli bombings following the Hamas attacks on October 7.
In addition, the Palestinian Authority reported more than a hundred deaths in the West Bank.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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