The Lisbon Municipal Assembly approved a loan of up to ME 15.3 for World Youth Day works

The Lisbon Municipal Assembly approved on Tuesday a council proposal to raise a medium- and long-term loan of up to 15.3 million euros to finance investments in the framework of World Youth Day.

The proposal was put to a nominal vote among 75 municipal deputies and was approved by “11 votes against, 35 abstentions, 25 votes in favor and six absent,” said Lisbon’s municipal assembly president, Rosário Farmhouse. (PS) .

For municipal groups, Chega, PEV, BE, Livre and PAN voted against, abstained from PS, PCP, Iniciativa Liberal (IL) and Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), and votes for the five parties that made up the Novos Tempos coalition , namely SDP, CDS-PP, MPT, PPM and Aliança.

It is about “the conclusion of a medium-term and long-term loan of up to 15.3 million euros from Caixa Geral de Depósitos” to ensure the financing of investments in the framework of the World Youth Day (WYD), namely for works in the Tagus Park (38 ha), a walking and cycling a bridge over the Trancao River (to be carried out by the municipal company EMEL), car parks and scenes, interventions that are expected to remain for the future of the city.

According to the proposal, loans cannot “exceed the useful life of the related investment or exceed a period of 20 years, having been informed by intervention promoters that they have a useful life of 20 years.”

Presenting the proposal to the deputies, Lisbon Chamber Vice President Filipe Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP) stated that the municipality “still has a very reasonable debt ratio”, indicating that within the legal parameters it is “about 30%” and which has been reduced throughout this mandate, including preliminary data on closing accounts for 2022, shows that “it has decreased by 22 million euros, by about 7.2%”.

Filipe Anacoreta Correia stressed that “this is not an investment in the WYD, but in relation to the WYD”, highlighting that this event represents an “incredible opportunity” as it provides an investment that will remain for the future, namely in the Tejo Park, which is the result of rehabilitation old landfill.

The vice president also said that of the 35 million euros taken on by the municipality for the WYD, if the remaining works in the city were removed, that would be “about 10 million euros of the council’s investment in the event itself.” .

Chega criticized the lack of transparency in the provision of projects and terms of reference for WYD and noted that the loan costs the municipality 6.5 million euros in interest, while PEV stressed that the WYD Foundation is the promoter of the event and pointed to the principle of secularism of the state.

“When a lot of money from the public purse is spent more on uncertainty than on certainty, without planning and, above all, without understanding the environmental impact that such infrastructure can have, we cannot give carte blanche,” said Livret. referring to the altar stage at Teho Park, PAN also raised concerns about the future of the infrastructure.

Livre proposed to recommend to the chamber the sustainable use of the future Tejo Trancao intermunicipal urban park, including that the possibility of holding large events would be subject to an environmental assessment, but this proposal was rejected, and PSD, IL, PPM voted against. Aliança, CDS-PP and Chega, abstaining PCP, PS, PAN and MPT and votes in favor of BE, Livre, PEV and Cidadãos Por Lisboa.

PS’s abstention was already announced last week when the Socialists questioned the usefulness and longevity of some of the infrastructure planned for the event, saying that getting a loan “is a clear political option for this executive” who has the largest municipal budget for the event . 2023, with 1.3 billion euros, in addition to the highest IMT revenue, which is higher than that of IMI.

PCP once again called for “rigor and transparency” in the organization of the WYD and stated that investments should provide adequate conditions for an event of this magnitude, hoping that “the money is used wisely and in a balanced way.”

“How can you explain that, six months after the event, milestones were discussed and revised whose values ​​not only hurt some, but shocked the whole country?” IL asked, lamenting the lack of information and transfer of blame between organizations. participates in the organization.

In support of this proposal, the CDS-PP highlighted the potential benefits of WYD and a return to the city, noting that if, when the choice of Lisbon for the event was announced, an explanation was given to the Portuguese, “definitely that today one would have half the misunderstanding of some”, criticizing project team coordinator José Sa Fernández for “dodging responsibility”, including because he knew the plans for the altar stage.

WYD, considered the largest event of the Catholic Church, will be held this year in Lisbon from 1 to 6 August, expected to be attended by about 1.5 million people in the presence of Pope Francis.