The cooperative agreement between Alcoutim, Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António lies in tatters as Alcoutim mayor Osvaldo Gonçalves is shafted by his socialist councillors.
The three eastern Algarve municipalities were to benefit from a €3.5 million pilot project to share resources, to delegate and to decentralise in areas such as planning but only if all three had final approval from their council assemblies.
Alcoutim council today pulled out as its socialist councillors had made it clear that they were not in support of this cooperative agreement, despite the funding being in place and the cooperative projects being interesting and viable ones.
The president of Castro Marim council criticised Alcoutim’s withdrawal from a scheme that promised so much in developing the lower Guadiana region including a shared healthcare project suggested by the government which, if it worked, could have been replicated elsewhere in the country.
Osvaldo Gonçalves, president of Alcoutim council said he did not have the "political conditions" to get the measure through his socialist council.
This leaves Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António looking for alternative project funds as the current cooperative agreement can go no further.
Osvaldo Gonçalves justified his withdrawal, despite having been at the May signing of the agreement with the government in Lisbon, on the "lack of political conditions" as "the Municipal Assembly of Alcoutim has 11 deputies of the Partido Socialista, and after meeting with the socialist members I realised that the proposed amendment of the statutes would not be approved and I felt that at this time there are no political conditions to advance."
Castro Marim's Franciso Amaral was not pleased, "Over the years there has always been understanding between the three municipalities of Alcoutim, Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António to manage millions of community and municipal funds on projects that benefited the three municipalities.
“I regret that distrust and partisanship have led Alcoutim to this position" said Amaral, adding that party political bickering was usually set aside when it came to cooperative ventures such as this one."
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All Portugal's municipals have done nothing good for their regions - just lined the pockets of the local elites through jobs and favours and protected local businesses no matter how out of date their products and services. At an average 20 million euros a year !