The Lisbon Liberal Initiative is wondering if this event is a “World Spending Day”

Today, the Lisbon Liberal Initiative wondered if World Youth Day (WYD) would not be a “World Waste Day”, given the values ​​associated with organizing the event despite not questioning its implementation.

“World Youth Days or World Waste Days?” asks the municipal group Liberal Initiative (IL) in a statement, for which “the lack of organization and planning is conspicuous and therefore now at the last minute they are working and making successive direct adjustments for several million euros.

“In addition to this stream of spending, there is a shifting of blame between the various parties involved in the project,” the note says, in which the Liberals remind that the municipality will spend up to 35 million euros.

IL states that it “does not question the holding of the event” and recalls that for the sake of the image of the city “it is necessary to guarantee the success of this event, but calls on all those involved to have an idea that this event takes place in Portugal.”

“A country at the end of Europe specializes in the art of waste, and this hurts all of us,” he emphasizes.

The Liberals (having three municipal deputies) recall that the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, asked “to reconsider the altarpiece of the Parc Eduardo VII, valued at about two million euros, and that the stage of the Parque Tejo, the one that “offended them all””.

The municipal group also recalls that the announcement of the selection of Lisbon as the venue for World Youth Day was made on January 27, 2019, but it was not until November 2022 that the government and councils of Lisbon and Loures signed a memorandum of understanding to clarify the responsibilities of everyone in organizing the event.

The mayor of Lisbon acknowledged on Thursday that he was concerned about WYD costs, but assured that he would not spend more than the 35 million euros he committed to invest.

“When I arrived [à Câmara de Lisboa], my concern was to limit the costs. I was the one who said that the Lisbon Chamber would not spend more than 35 million euros,” said Carlos Moedas (PSD).

However, the Bishop coordinating the event also said on Thursday that the Catholic Church’s budget for the WYD has not yet been approved, it will be announced in the coming days, and indicated a preliminary figure of more than 80 million euros.

“Eighty million euros is the amount we have been able to see in the 2023 budget in line with our responsibilities,” said Americo Aguiar, Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, President of the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation and General Coordinator of the Local Organizing Committee (COL).

In the case of Loures, the cost estimate is 10 million euros and the government has indicated that it provides for an investment of 36.5 million euros.

Although the municipalities and the government announced estimates a few months ago, the costs of the event have caused controversy in recent days, as it was reported that the construction of a stage altar in the main wind site (Tejo Park) would cost 5.3 million euros. The work has already been awarded to Mota-Engil by the Lisbon City Council.

WYD is the largest meeting of young Catholics from all over the world with the Pope, which takes place every two to three years, from July to August.

The meeting, considered the largest event of the Catholic Church, will be held this year in Lisbon from 1 to 6 August and is expected to be attended by about 1.5 million people.

The main ceremonies of the day take place in the Tagus Park, in the northern part of the Parque das Nasuens, on the banks of the Tagus River, on the lands of the municipalities of Lisbon and Loures.

The days were born at the initiative of Pope John Paul II after the success of the meeting organized in 1985 in Rome as part of the International Year of Youth.