Local self-government in Portugal

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The local self-government in Portugal is from the Autarquias locais perceived designated authorities. According to the Portuguese constitution of 1976 , the Autarquias Locais are defined as elementary components of democracy and recognized as local authorities ( pessoas colectivas territoriais ) (Art. 235).

According to the constitution, the Autarquias Locais consist of Freguesias (municipalities) and Municípios (counties) and in continental Portugal also from Regiões Administrativas (administrative regions), which have not yet been established.

The districts on the third level of the administrative structure of Portugal , which are comparable in their function to German government districts, are central government institutions without their own legal capacity. The powers and responsibilities of the Autarquias Locais are determined by law. The Autarquias Locais have their own right to tax in accordance with statutory provisions. Your organization consists of an advisory assembly and an executive, both of which come about through their own elections. The organ of the Freguesias is the Junta da Freguesia , that of the Municípios the Câmara Municipal .

Local and regional division in Portugal

The European Charter of Local Self-Government was recognized by Parliament in 1990. Within the framework of the NUTS (classification of territorial units for statistics) set up to classify the spatial reference units of official statistics in the member states of the European Union , Portugal has the freguesias in the category LAU 2 ( local administrative unit ) (municipalities) and the municípios in the category LAU 1 (Municipal associations) assigned. Originally only for statistical purposes, municípios were grouped into 30 subregions (including the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores) and NUTS III level, seven NUTS II level regions formed from the subregions and the mainland as well as the two autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores NUTS stage I associated . On the basis of a law of August 27, 2008, the municípios of the subregions (NUTS III) Comunidades Intermunicipais , abbreviated CIM, form associations of general purpose ( associações de municípios de fins múltiplos ). Municipalities can also set up such special-purpose associations for the joint pursuit of certain defined purposes. The associations are separate corporations under public law, to which a council is attached to which the municipal assemblies of the member municípios send representatives. The administrative division of the Municípios in Grandes Áreas Metropolitanas (GAM) and Comunidades Urbanas (ComUrb), as envisaged by laws from 2003, has been repealed. Up to now, this classification had only been carried out in isolated cases. The associations of Grande Lisboa e da Península de Setúbal and Grande Porto e de Entre-Douro e Vouga , which were created as GAMs on the basis of these laws , were transferred separately to an Área Metropolitana under the new law.

Responsibilities

The distribution of the tasks and responsibilities of the Autarquias Locais is determined by law. The law is based on the principle of subsidiarity . The Municípios are u. a. Responsible for energy, transport, education, monuments, culture and science, sport and leisure, housing, civil protection, consumer protection, hygiene and health care, fundamental environmental protection, drainage, cleaning and waste management, the municipal police and fire protection. The Municípios are also responsible for building and construction planning and, together with the Plano Director Municipal (PDM), draw up similar zoning plans under German law . The responsibilities of the freguesias are again predominantly competing, but related to their municipal area, as in the case of the school system, culture and sport, civil defense; In principle, they are also responsible for public supply, questions of local environmental protection and emergency medical care. Through agreements between a freguesia and the Município, tasks from the municipal authority can be assigned to a municipality. There are no district-free cities that also take on the responsibilities of the district offices in Germany. The law also does not assume that responsibilities are only transferred for execution, as is the case with order management by district offices. Portugal knows, however, large areas of direct state administration, in which their own local authorities, mostly but not always based at the seat of the Municípios, act as lower departments of the line ministries, such as B. in labor and social administration, civil status, judicial administration and registration, immigration, road construction, traffic and motor vehicles and financial administration. In this respect, the municípios lack any jurisdiction. However, the municípios can make agreements with the state central administration on delimitation or on tasks to be performed jointly.

State supervision

Compliance with the laws and their implementing regulations by the Autarquias Locais is monitored by the government through their respective responsible ministries. This is a legal oversight that is exercised by way of inspection, questioning or conducting a formal investigation. Within the scope of this supervision, the elected representatives of the Autarquias Locais can also be removed from their offices or the bodies dissolved.

For the state administrative tasks legally delegated to the Autarquias Locais on the basis of subsidiarity, they are allocated the necessary funds within the framework of the state budget, the use of which is also monitored by the government. In the budget laws, regulations on responsibilities and their exercise can also be enacted.

For advice and support, the Autarquias Locais is attached to the Council of Ministers' General Directorate of the Autarquias Locais ( Direcção Geral das Autarquias Locais ), which exercises legal and technical supervision, especially in expropriation proceedings .

Cidades and Vilas

The freguesias can qualify either Vilas or Cidades in accordance with Law 11/82 . With Vila small towns, with Cidade larger cities. The appointment is made by Parliament and does not involve any change in administration or responsibilities. The cities remain their legal nature according to Freguesias.

According to Art. 12 of Law No. 11/82, a municipality can be appointed to a vila if it has at least 3000 people with voting rights and certain basic requirements for its infrastructure are met (such as medical care, pharmacy, social facilities, public transport facilities, post, Shops, hotels and banks), whereby it is sufficient if the municipality has at least half of the facilities mentioned.

Cidade can become a city according to Art. 13 of Law No. 11/82, which has more than 8000 residents entitled to vote and, in addition to the aforementioned, has other infrastructure facilities, such as a hospital, fire department, cinema and cultural center, museum and library, Elementary and secondary schools as well as public parks and gardens, although it is sufficient here if the city owns at least half of the facilities mentioned.

For important reasons of historical, cultural or architectural importance, Article 14 of Law No. 11/82 may deviate from some of the aforementioned requirements, which in practice was used particularly by the Cidades in the period after 1974 with regard to the minimum number of eligible voters have been done.

It is a practice that several freguesias (parishes) are appointed to a cidade (for example Agualva-Cacém ) or a vila (for example Aljubarrota ). In this case, too, the Cidade or Vila does not have its own legal personality, nor does it have its own administration or a special body as a representative.

There are 156 cidades and 572 vilas in Portugal (2010).

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lei N. ° 45/2008, Diário da República 1a série-N. ° 165-27, p. 6005.
  2. ↑ Lei N. ° 159/99 v. September 14, 1999, Diário da República IA, N. ° 215, 14-9-1999, p. 6301.
  3. ↑ Law No. 11/82 of June 2, 1982, Regime de criação e extinção das autarquias locais e de designação e determinação da categoria das povoações - Law on the establishment and abolition of local bodies and the qualification and definition of settlement categories - ( Memento from March 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 247 kB), accessed on June 27, 2016 (Portuguese).