Transcript Diapositive 1

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
IN PORTUGAL
IMPORTANT DATES
STRUCTURE
 Portuguese Constitution, 2nd
April 1976: proclamation of
decentralisation ("autonomous
regions“ mentioned)
 1984 Decree law: local
authority status given
 1991 Framework law:
administrative regions obtain
official status (they don’t exist
yet...)
 1998 Act: administrative
regions are created (idem)
 2002 Act: on how local
governments are organised
 The local government
- Local authorities provided
for in the Constitution
- Internal structure of powers
 Participative democracy
- Local and regional
referenda
- Other tools for direct
participation
Legislative and constitutional framework
Constitution:
Unitarian and decentralised central government
Autonomous local governments
Recent legislative framework:
Competences
Attributions
Statuses
Structure of local powers
Status of
legal entity
Supervision
(legality)
Sub-national entities
=
administrative regions
municípios
freguesias
autonomous regions
Deliberative
assembly
and collegial
executive body
Financial
and
patrimonial
autonomy
Own power
to make
regulations
Local authorities provided for
in the Constitution
 Administrative regions
have legally the right to
exist but don’t in reality
 Two autonomous regions
exist
 Municipalities (308): where
the main parts of power lie
 Districts (4252)
Associations of local government
Metropolitan areas
- Porto and Lisbon
- Principle of local continuity
- Deliberative body
(metropolitan assembly
(assembleia metropolitana))
and two executive bodies
(metropolitan council (junta
metropolitana) and
metropolitan executive
committee (comissão
executiva metropolitana))
District and municipal
associations
 Freguesias association
 Inter-municipal
communities (in charge
of general objectives)
 Municipal associations
(in charge of specific
objectives)
Districts – delimited and
decentralised areas of the central
government
 Do not have the status of legal entity (unlike
the administrative regions)
 Article 291C says that districts exist as long as
administrative regions are not put into practice.
 Organisation:
 Assembly
 Consultative council
 Civil governor
Local deliberative and executive
bodies
Administrative
regions
Districts
Municipalities
Executive
bodies
District
committee
Mayor
Regional
Municipal
council (câmara committee
municipal)
Deliberativ
e bodies
District assembly
or plenary
Municipal
session of
assembly
citizens
Regional
assembly
Local authorities’ competences
 Freguesias: very local administrative unit, responsible
for cemetery maintenance, road maintenance of the
parish, day-care centres, nursing homes, ... and the
competences that municipalities devolve
 Municipalities: rural and urban policies, energy,
transport, patrimony, health, social
policies…possibility to share competences with the
central government
 Districts: education, culture, environment, health…
 Regions: economic and social development, spatial
planning, environment, education, youth and sports…
 Inter-municipalities: coordination planning, economic
and social management
Local authorities’ staff
 Career system
 Unified system
 System is based on
the status of State
official
Source: "Structure and
Operation of Local
and Regional
Democracy in
Portugal”, Council of
Europe, 2006
Categories
Managerial staff
%
2
Senior technical staff
5
Technical staff
1
Technical/professional staff
8
Administrative staff
14
Auxiliary staff
40
Manual workers
27
Municipal firefighters
2
Computer staff
1
Local authorities’ financial means
Revenues
Multi-level
adjustment
Own revenues
(in order to
balance out the
significant disparities
in terms of
economic
development)
Subsidies from
the EU,
the central
government
and the
municipalities
Supervised
credit
Conclusion
 Recent decentralisation, suspended and
uncompleted
 The administrative regions are still not
put into practice...