"In the oldest area, which is education, there are still issues to be resolved, namely financial deficits. The one with the calmest atmosphere is social action, and the one where we are hearing about more problems, more distortions, which is also the one where the municipalities have been for less time, is the health area", pointed out Ribau Esteves.

At the end of the board meeting, which took place this morning in Coimbra, the vice-president of ANMP stressed that the current government has committed to resolving the problems related to the transfer of powers.

"What the minister stated was one of the commitments he made to us, because we brought a list of the dysfunctions that exist: some issues in legislative terms, others that we are learning from the operation that is underway. The issues of financial deficits in the three most dense areas", he said.

The Minister for Regional Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, stated on Monday that the time is "for consolidation" of decentralization, considering it necessary to correct "possible distortions" in the process and update data to calculate transfers to the municipalities.

According to Ribau Esteves, ANMP already has meetings scheduled with members of the government, who expressed "total availability" to find solutions for the "pending issues".

"Our first is with a very important area, where several very complex pending issues exist, in the area of water, waste, and energy. We are obviously talking about the Ministry of the Environment and Energy, and we have our meeting scheduled with the minister for June 11", he said.

The meeting of the board of directors of the Association this morning also served to report on the "very informative" meeting held with the new Secretary of State for Housing.

"She needed a lot of information, and we provided it, in addition to having done so at the meeting, a document was immediately provided with the many contributions that the Association made to the debate and to the construction of the More Housing package with the previous Government, which she was unaware of", he said.

The new Secretary of State for Housing received ANMP's position on local accommodation, which argues that it is up to the municipalities to decide on this matter.

"We argue that it is up to those who have to decide whether there is availability for more or which areas of the municipality should or should not accommodate them. We understand that this can only be a municipal decision in order to be well decided. Dealing with these matters in national legislation makes no sense", he concluded.

The general council meeting of the

Read Also: Marcelo condecorates the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (Portuguese version)