The bill 286/XVII, which marks the first amendment to law 25-A/2025 dated March 13, allowing for the reinstatement of parishes merged in 2013, was approved by majority vote, with the abstention of Iniciativa Liberal, during a general, special, and final global vote in the plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic.
The approved proposal, presented by PSD, mandates the Directorate-General for Local Authorities (DGAL) to advance “the transfer of funds from the Parish Financing Fund and Surplus” outlined in the State Budget “to the parishes to be dissolved.”
The transfer includes the payment of the salaries of the employees of the parish councils to be dissolved, with advance payment, at the time related to October, for the “months of November and December of the same year.”
In the proposal’s justification, it is explained that during the process and implementation of procedures for the reinstatement of parishes, “a wide range of grounded doubts arose concerning operational aspects” related to the new parishes resulting from the disaggregation of previous parishes, “specifically regarding the employees of local authorities.”
To “address and regulate the identified gaps,” the deputies also approved that the office holders of the new parishes must, after installation, “authorize new forecast management tools in accordance with the budgetary principles and rules established in the Financial Regime of Local Authorities.”
Additionally, the new budget must “provide a specific account for the collection of funds to be transferred from the budget of the dissolved parish.”
Until these forecast management tools are approved, the offices of the new parishes may incur “expenses for which there is a balance of appropriations from the budget of the dissolved parish in proportion, considering the criteria for the distribution of assets and liabilities.”
The legally competent office holders of the parishes resulting from disaggregation “must present, in 2026, an accounting report” for the period between the reinstatement date of the parish and December 31, 2025.
The approved law “enters into force the day following its publication and takes effect from the date of entry into force” of law 25-A/2025, dated March 13, “safeguarding all acts that have been performed,” as determined in the decree.
This proposal was announced on July 22 in parliament by the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, who considered the law approving the disaggregation of parishes insufficient to resolve some practical issues.
Among them was the monthly transfer of funds from the OE2025 to the parishes since the new ones may not be constituted exactly the day after the elections, which could jeopardize salary payments to workers, for instance.
Following the recent municipal elections on October 12, the disaggregation of 135 unions is underway to restore 302 of the parishes merged by the 2013 administrative reform, according to a law approved by parliament on January 17 and reconfirmed by the Assembly of the Republic on March 6.
Before the elections, preparatory work was carried out by dissolution commissions, one for each union of parishes to be dissolved, and after the suffrage, the 302 reinstated parishes are managed by installation committees, a temporary body created to ensure the installation and operation of each of these local authorities.
