Carlos Moedas blames PS for the negative result of the municipality in 2023 – Politics

The president of Lisbon City Council, Carlos Moedas, accused the Socialist Party this Wednesday of being responsible for the municipality’s negative net result, for blocking the purchase and sale of assets, an instrument that had previously always been available.

“It was the year in which we had the greatest execution in terms of budget. What does that mean? It means that what was promised was spent and managed to be invested. And this is the first time. More than a billion we managed to achieve in terms of execution, which is very important”, stated Carlos Moedas.

The mayor was reacting, on the sidelines of a visit to the Buenos Aires Book Fair (where Lisbon is the guest city), to the news that the Lisbon City Council ended 2023 with a negative net result, worth 18.59 million euros.

“Those who say that there was a lower net result, one must ask why this happened. It happens because the Socialist Party (PS), from the beginning, blocks an essential instrument for the president of the Chamber, which is to make purchases and sales of assets” , said the mayor.

Carlos Moedas stated that blocking any purchase or sale of assets has an effect on the chamber’s management balance.

“This constant blockade by the PS of the management of the chamber has this effect. The PS has to justify why it does not allow the president of the chamber to have an instrument that all previous presidents have had, which is a normal buying and selling instrument of heritage. By not letting me use this instrument, we have here the cause of this net result”, he stressed.

However, Carlos Moedas made a point of highlighting that what was done in terms of investment “never happened in the History of Lisbon”, with 560 million signed in the European Union, “which means that 200 million of the chamber’s own capital will have to be invested “.

“What it shows is that I’m very proud of this result, because we managed to make investments that had never been made until now. I’m not managing the chamber for politics, I’m managing the chamber for the people. I managed to invest more than others and perform more than others and this is the result of working for others”, he considered, leaving an appeal to the PS to look at the management it has always had and let it govern, which is also the role of opposition.

Asked about Pedro Costa’s resignation from the presidency of the Campo de Ourique Parish Council and the statements he made at the Municipal Assembly, according to which the council does “as little as possible” and shows “unavailability to solve the city’s problems”, Carlos Moedas he limited himself to responding that Pedro Costa has to justify himself to those who elected him.

“The presidents of parish councils are elected by the people and whoever resigns from office has to justify themselves to the people. It is to them that they have to justify why they resigned”, he stated, adding that he had already spoken with Hugo Vieira da Silva, who replaces Pedro Costa in the position.