The councillors of Cidadaãos Por Lisboa, PCP, Livre and BE in the Lisbon City Council this Friday criticised the PSD/CDS-PP leadership for continuing to support private and profitable events, such as the Kalorama music festival, with “a million-dollar exemption” from municipal taxes.
The proposed protocol between the Lisbon Municipality and the Kalorama Festival Unipessoal, LDA, for the holding of the third and fourth editions of MEO KALORAMA from 29 to 31 August this year and from 28 to 30 August 2025 in the Parque da Bela Vista, was approved today in a closed session of the Municipal Executive.
A source in the municipality told Lusa that the document was made possible by the quality vote of the acting mayor, whose role is currently held by Vice-President Filipe Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP) in the absence of Carlos Moedas (PSD), after a tie, with seven votes in favour of the leadership of the PSD/CDS-PP (which governs without an absolute majority) and seven votes against from the opposition, namely three votes from Cidádos for Lisbon (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), two from the PCP, one from Livre and another from BE, while three PS councillors chose to abstain.
Once approved by the Chamber, the PSD/CDS-PP proposal is to be put to the vote of the Municipal Assembly, in particular the allocation of non-financial support in the estimated total amount of €977,535 per year, of which €512,159.30 per year will be exempted from municipal fees.
“For the third time, Moedas wanted to support Kalorama in the next editions (2024 and 2025). There are almost two million of them. [de euros] lost in benefits and expenses, more goods and services offered by the municipality. The option is not visible. We do not even understand why this festival is in Bela Vista, continuing to harm the park and the surrounding residents. After all, what is the Tagus Park for? ” asks the Citizens’ Council of Lisbon (CPL).
In response to this proposal, CPL criticises the “insistence” of the Novos Tempos coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Aliança) in granting exemptions to “large commercial events with a certain profit, such as Kalorama”, regretting that this support is denied to small cultural initiatives or street vendors “who really have to pay”.
According to PCP council members, “there is a clear imbalance between the amounts of non-financial support, which includes more than €500,000 in exemptions for 2024 alone, and the amounts for the city,” and there are doubts as to whether the commitments previously assumed will be fully met.
The Communists also claim that this proposal was made possible in the same week that the SDP/CDS-PP, with the PS abstaining, rejected the PCP’s initiative on measures to support families in relation to family entertainment and support activities. (AAAF) and the “Family Support Component” (CAF), “declaring a shortage of funds (around 600,000 euros)” when they “provide support estimated at around two million euros over two years to a festival that generates millions in profits.”
Noting that Kalorama has day tickets for €65 and passes for €160, and that it is usually attended by several thousand people, generating a “substantial profit”, Livre argued that the annual sum of almost one million euros that the council manages without supporting the festival could be used for investment in the city and criticized the “privatization of public spaces”, since because of the festival, Bela Vista Park will have limited access to the general public during the month and Middle.
“President Carlos Moedas once used the slogan: ‘Lisbon can be much more than you imagine.’ Now, with one million euros, areas such as culture, sport or social rights can be much more than we imagine. But the preference of the New Times is, once again, to support the most privileged,” explained Livre.
The BE Council accused PSD/CDS-PP of continuing to provide “millions of euros in benefits and logistical support worth hundreds of millions of euros to a private and profitable event”, given that the Kalorama protocol supports “a policy of advertising and large events”.
“It is clear that in Carlos Moedas’ Lisbon, only the chestnut seller pays the fee, not the million-dollar events,” BE said, pointing out that the same meeting approved support for associations that carry out social work with young people, the elderly and people with disabilities, among other social functions, the total amount of which amounted to “only a quarter of the support for Kalorama, and excluded 27 social projects that would have a huge impact on the most vulnerable people in the city.”
Lusa has asked the PS for information about her abstention vote, but is still awaiting a response.
The PSD/CDS-PP proposal states that “given the relevance of the festival for the promotion of culture and the dissemination of the name and image of the city of Lisbon and Portugal, which in the previous 2022 and 2023 had a media impact worth 32 million euros, it is in the interest of the Municipality of Lisbon to guarantee the holding of the third and fourth editions.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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