The Lisbon Municipal Assembly today approved an exemption from paying municipal taxes, worth “around three million euros”, to the organization of the 10th edition of Rock in Rio, in the Tejo-Trancão Park.
The proposal was voted against by BE, Livre, PEV, PCP, independent MP Daniela Serralha (PS/Livre coalition), PS MPs Duarte Marçal and Hugo Gaspar, PAN, PPM and Chega, with PS and IL abstaining and PSD, MPT, Aliança, CDS-PP and PS MP Luís Coelho voting in favor.
The Liberal Initiative (IL) put forward a proposal for the council to share information that will allow it to monitor support for events that benefit from exemptions from municipal taxes, a recommendation that was approved by a majority, with the CDS-PP abstaining.
By abstaining on the tax exemption for the 10th edition of Rock in Rio, IL deputy Rodrigo Mello Gonçalves argued that “there has to be a balance between these millionaire exemptions and the small and medium-sized businesses that are in the city every day and for whom there are no benefits of this kind”.
Against the proposal, Fábio Sousa, from the PCP, lamented the lack of information on the criteria for awarding this support and the counterparts for the municipality, arguing that the amount the council is giving up should be used to intervene “autonomously”.
Bruno Mascarenhas, from the municipal group Chega, compared Rock in Rio in Lisbon with the Mad Cool festival in Madrid, considering that “there is no possible comparison in the quality of the line-up”, criticizing the event in the Portuguese capital, including the prices charged for the VIP pass.
Patrícia Robalo, from Livre, pointed to the favorable opinion of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) on holding the event in the Tejo-Trancão Park, stating that it is “lacking in credibility” and advocating a more in-depth technical report on the risks of the festival’s noise for the birdlife in the Tagus River.
The ICNF’s opinion states that the music festival can be expected to have “some negative impacts, but not significant since it is being held in June, the month with the lowest monthly population averages for most of the bird species studied that normally occur in the area”, so it has “nothing to oppose the event”.
Carlos Reis, from the PSD, deplored Livre’s “denialist” stance on the ICNF’s opinion and compared Chega’s intervention to “an exercise typical of a candidacy for a high school student association”.
Manuel Lage, from the PS, highlighted IL’s recommendation for more information on the granting of exemptions from paying municipal taxes and recalled the executive’s commitment to present a study on the impact of this type of support for events in Lisbon.
Representing the executive, the deputy mayor, Filipe Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP), said that music events are exempt from taxes all over the country, from PS councils to PCP councils.
“It’s very good for the city, instead of having a rubbish dump, we have a park and I think it’s better for the environment, instead of having a rubbish dump, we have a park that has parties,” said the mayor, in response to Livre’s position.
Before being voted on by the assembly, the proposal to exempt the 10th edition of Rock in Rio from taxes was approved by the city council on February 19, with the casting vote of the mayor in office at the time of the vote, Filipe Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP), after a tie, with the PS abstaining.
The amount of municipal taxes to be exempted is “around three million euros”, in line with the support given in previous editions, which were held in Parque da Bela Vista.
The 10th edition of Rock in Rio Lisboa, scheduled for June this year, will take place in the Tejo-Trancão Park, the venue that hosted World Youth Day.
