Politics

The Ramal da Alfândega, the Customs Railway Branch in Porto that has been deactivated for circa thirty years now. The members of the Municipal Assembly visited the site a few days ago and assessed the qualities of the land that may accommodate two possible definitive solutions: an eco-track, encompassing both a pedestrian and a bike path, on weekends, or a fast connection commuter transport, between Campanhã and Customs, which will feature an electrical transportation system, on working days.

The new Board of Directors of the Porto Supply Market (MAP) was welcomed at Porto City Hall by the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, for a courtesy visit, on 21 June.

Rui Moreira participated in the second “Public Diplomacy Talks” event, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. The main topic of the debate, which took to the online format, between the Mayor of Porto and Athens City Hall, Kostas Bakoyannis, was the diplomatic role of cities at global level.

The Municipal Executive approved the 2020 Accounting Report. Rui Moreira highlighted that, in a context of an unprecedented pandemic, “budget implementation was probably the best ever”, and taking into account that it reached 79. 8%. As regards social housing, the figures are irrefutable even: the execution rate of total expenditure, “at 100 %”.

Rui Moreira and another 60 mayors of municipalities all over the world gathered for an online meeting, today, to discuss commitments to inclusive growth and pledged to support youth through COVID-19 recovery initiatives in their cities. This event marked the 5th Anniversary Meeting of the OECD Champion Mayors For Inclusive Growth, which was first established in March 2016.

The Mayor of Porto affirmed this morning that “it is not acceptable that as regards vaccination, there are territorial criteria, when they were not in place, previously”. Rui Moreira considers that “there are double standards” and that the Government and the health authorities did not go well regarding the loosening measures implemented in Lisbon, even if there has been a decline or a clarification”. “The North and the rest of the country are treated differently regarding the capital”.

The Municipal Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution to strengthen the budget to the municipal programme Porto Solidário with a further 1 million euros, yesterday evening, on 24 May. Porto City Hall is a pioneer of such measure, which has been in effect since 2014, and currently other municipalities have been implementing the same measure.

The Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, announced this morning that the Government reached an agreement regarding the “methodology” for the railway construction between the Northern Region of Portugal and Galicia. The procedure will follow the “Iberian gauge”, rather than the European one, which, according to Rui Moreira, offers the advantage of enabling complementary trajectories. However, this “old-standing dream” may take as much as 10 years to be accomplished.

The European Council informal meeting, held in the framework of the European Union Social Summit, took place this morning at the Super Bock Arena – Pavilhão Rosa Mota. The Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira joined Portuguese Prime Minister in the Gardens of the Palácio de Cristal, to welcome the 24 Heads of State that arrived in Porto for the European meeting. Rui Moreira visited the premises and witnessed the settled structure to the event.

The Porto Social Summit starting point was the formal sitting at Porto City Hall, where Mayor Rui Moreira handed over the Keys of the city to the highest representatives of the European Union, David Maria Sassoli, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, before the opening of the Social Summit, this afternoon, at Porto Customs Building. Rui Moreira stated that the city is “very honoured with the presence of the European Union Highest Representatives, today, in Porto and in our town hall. This is