At a private meeting of the municipal executive, the proposal to transfer funds to groups participating in the 2025 Popular Marches, endorsed by the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD), who oversees the cultural portfolio, was unanimously approved.
The proposal mandates the allocation of a total of 880,000 euros, “equally divided into parts of 40,000 euros” among the 22 groups organizing the following participating marches, 20 of which are in competition: Alcântara, Alfama, Alto do Pina, Bairro Alto, Beato, Bela Flor Campolide, Benfica, Bica, Boavista, Carnide, Castelo, Graça, Lumiar, Madragoa, Marvila, Mouraria, Olivais, Penha de França, São Domingos de Benfica, and São Vicente.
The Lisbon City Council (CML) also provides support to two of the three non-competitive marches, namely the Children’s and the Markets’ marches, excluding the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, which independently handles its participation costs.
In previous years, the CML granted each of the 22 participating groups in the Popular Marches a financial support of 30,000 euros, an amount that in 2024 was supplemented with an additional 10,000 euros per group.
For this year, the municipality approved support of 40,000 euros for each group and intends to augment this amount with an additional 10,000 euros.
A source from the office of the president of the CML said that at the last awards ceremony for the Popular Marches in January of this year, the social-democrat Carlos Moedas announced the support for each march would increase to 50,000 euros, explaining that “this will happen, so soon a second proposal will come to the council to complement the amount now awarded.”
With this increase, totaling 220,000 euros, the overall support amounting to 880,000 euros will rise to 1.1 million euros.
In the proposal presented, Carlos Moedas stated that the Lisbon Popular Marches, which date back to the early 20th century but gained prominence in 1932 when they were formalized as a neighborhood competition, are “an important cultural reference” in celebrating the city’s festivities and simultaneously a driver of economic activity for many entities connected to the life of historical neighborhoods in the municipality.
“This event is part of the Lisbon Festivities and is a spectacle of color, music, and tradition, where various neighborhoods of the city compete in a grand parade on Avenida da Liberdade,” noted the mayor, emphasizing that the set of actions to be developed by the entities involved in presenting the Popular Marches “requires timely transfer of financial resources to ensure a stable organization and the necessary advance preparation for this event.”
On this point, the councilors from Citizens for Lisbon (elected by the PS/Livre coalition) emphasized the importance of increasing financial support for the popular marches, warning that “it is necessary to consider the additional difficulties of the groups that do not have space for rehearsals and ensure that the municipality covers this expense.”
In this session, the CML unanimously approved the allocation of 90,000 euros to each of the six humanitarian associations of volunteer firefighters (AHBV) in the city, totaling 540,000 euros, to continue the Integrated and Permanent Pre-Hospital Emergency Device (DIPEPH) this year.
The six AHBVs in the municipality are Ajuda, Beato and Penha de França, Cabo Ruivo, Campo de Ourique, Lisbonenses, and the Humanitarian Association of Volunteer Firefighters of Lisbon.
Currently, the Lisbon City Council’s executive committee, comprising 17 members, includes seven elected from the “New Times” coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Aliança)—the only members with assigned responsibilities and governing without an absolute majority—, three from the PS, two from the PCP, three from Citizens for Lisbon (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), one from Livre, and one from BE.
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