The parliamentary working group responsible for reviewing parish splitting requests is only reviewing requests to rescind the 2013 administrative reform that met the December 21, 2022 deadline for entering Parliament.
According to MP Pedro Segoño (PS), who leads the group, the law approved by the Assembly of the Republic on the creation and termination of parishes “determines that there may be an exceptional period for amending the previous law, subject to certain criteria.” , and states that the deadline for parishes to submit de-aggregation requests to Parliament was December 21, after they received approval from parish and municipal assemblies.
“After December 21, 2022 [a AR] set up a working group to review the requests received upstream from the municipalities, assuming both legitimacy against the entities that sent this file, and preliminary discussions that should have taken place before this date on December 21, 2022, in the meantime, give your assessment of compliance with the law 39 /2021. This is the work that is being done,” said the deputy, who already headed the National Association of Parishes (Anafre).
Pedro Segonho intervened at the request of Chega in the hearing of Territorial Unity Minister Ana Abruños on the parish law, which allows for the unbundling of the exclusive and transitional mechanism for parishes, added in 2013.
The deadline for the law gave 180 days, until December 21, 2022, for parishes that wanted to request a downsizing, but in the meantime, different interpretations have emerged.
Anafre announced that it has a legal opinion stating that the law indicates that it is sufficient that the first step in the process be initiated by December 21, and the PCP has submitted a draft to the AP that extended the deadline for receipts to apply for disaggregation until December 21 . one year.
The government admitted that it clarified the law because of these interpretations, but on Tuesday in Parliament, Minister Ana Abruñosa referred to the exclusive competence of the Assembly of the Republic and the established working group to interpret and analyze procedures.
On December 22 last year, a parliamentary source told Lusa that until yesterday, at least 185 parishes added in 2013 had asked parliament to unbundle under a special mechanism set up to abolish the so-called “Relvas law”. .
In late 2020, the government submitted to Parliament a proposal for a law to reverse the merger and disappearance of parishes that took place in 2013 during the SDP/CDC-PP government, later joined by the PKP, PEV and BE proposals.
The 2013 administrative reform abolished over a thousand parishes, resulting in 3,092 municipalities on the current map.
The legal regime for the creation, modification, and liquidation of parishes, effective December 21, 2021, provides for a transitional mechanism that gives parishes added in 2013 one year to apply to unmerger.
The law provided that requests for disaggregation after completion of formalities in parish and municipal assemblies must be delivered to Parliament by December 21, 2022, with subsequent acceptance of processes in transit by post, provided that they are sent postmarked on that date. date of.
In 2013, Portugal reduced 1168 parishes from 4260 to the current 3092, as introduced by the “troika” in 2012 when Minister Miguel Relvas was in charge in the PSD/CDS-PP government.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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