In a question sent to the Government, the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party begins by stating its "bewilderment and concern" regarding the statements made by the Minister of Culture, Dalila Rodrigues, on International Museum Day, last Saturday, who classified as "disastrous" the "main heritage reform carried out in recent years", implemented by the previous government, in January of this year. The reform in question gave rise to the public institute Cultural Heritage and to the public business entity Museums and Monuments of Portugal (MMP), based on the structure of the former Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage, and was accompanied by the extinction of the regional directorates for culture, with the transfer of competences in the area of heritage to the regional development coordination commissions. According to the parliamentary group, this reform at the level of cultural heritage allowed for the construction of a framework that provides museums and monuments with greater management agility, greater capacity to generate resources through investment and the use of European and international funds, having been reinforced with funds from the 2024 State Budget. In the opinion of the socialist deputies, on the one hand, the position of the guardianship contradicts "the good practices, examples and good results that similar models have in other countries", on the other hand, the statements made are "untimely, since this model has only been in operation for five months". This "demonstrates not an evaluation of the reorganisation of the heritage management model, but only a rush and a pattern already manifested in other portfolios of this government that intends to revert just for the sake of reverting without any study, planning or vision for the sector", they accuse. In the text of the question sent to the Government, the PS considers that this attitude is "serious" and could result "in serious damage to the commitments made both at the level of the RRP [Recovery and Resilience Plan] for culture, and at the level of the autonomy and non-interference that the State must have in relation to public companies". In this context, in addition to questioning the Government about whether it intends to revert the reform made in cultural heritage, the PS also wants to know on what basis and justification, having taken office in April, the Minister of Culture, Dalila Rodrigues, makes the qualitative evaluation of the work of only five months of the MMP. "What is the basis for the news that has been made public, about alleged invitations to the Administration of Museums and Monuments and the dismissal of the current administration?", asks the PS, also urging the minister to explain how she "interprets" the autonomy that is inherent to the existence of the public company and to the acts of management of the board of directors. The parliamentary group also questions whether Dalila Rodrigues is aware of the scope of the legal diploma that regulates the organisation and functioning of the public institute and the public company, namely with regard to human resources and departments. In this sequence, she asks the minister how she classifies her statement that "all human resources contracts (of the MMP) made so far will be diverted to museums, monuments and palaces", which means "transferring these resources to dependent services". Finally, they also want to know "how she reconciles the autonomy desired and regulated by the legislation in force with the statements that literally mean paralysing the action and autonomy of Museums and Monuments EPE, since it is not a general directorate, but a public company". In January, the previous Government implemented a restructuring of the heritage area that extinguished the former Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage, giving rise to the MMP and the PC, accompanied by the extinction of the regional directorates for culture, a reform that, for Dalila Rodrigues, "was disastrous". Dalila Rodrigues presented the essential lines of her policy in Viseu, on International Museum Day, in a speech at the Grão Vasco National Museum, which she directed in the early 2000s. Among the measures announced by the Minister of Culture is "a thorough review" of the MMP company, which will delegate "broad powers to the managers" of each supervised entity, in the sense of the autonomy that she considered "essential". The allocation of human resources recently hired by the central services to entities "in a situation of impoverishment", the limitation of the MMP structure to the departments of "Human Resources and Finance, Digital Competencies, and Spaces", the formation of teams, "starting with digital competencies", were also announced as "immediate changes" to be made in the sector. Also Read: Culture Minister wants legislation on heritage and museums updated (Portuguese version)