Politics

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."

At The European Union Social Summit is held between today and Saturday. A few minutes earlier to the stroke of eleven am, the highest representatives of the European Union will be welcomed at Porto City Hall, where they will receive the Keys of the city of Porto by Mayor Rui Moreira.

The Cities Social Summit Conference, themed “Delivering social rights and supporting an inclusive recovery”, is being held today in an online format, with the participation of the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira in the first speakers’ panel. Rui Moreira explained that the Portuguese Government is still too dominated by centralism as regards the drafting of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), and enhanced the need to achieve a “real” decentralisation.

Porto City Hall is honouring the 658 municipal workers that have been serving the Municipality of Porto for 25 or more years. It is a way of paying tribute for the way in which they have shown solidarity and commitment to the public service. This initiative is named “Clube de Prata” (“Silver Club) and was first implemented by Porto City hall in 2014, by the team of Mayor Rui Moreira. Since that time, this event is highly regarded both by the workers and the head offices.

Porto will host the European Union Social Summit on 7 May. The meeting is organised by the Portuguese Government jointly with the European Commission, under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The summit is organised around two events: a high-level conference on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, on 7 May at the Customs Building, and an informal meeting of Heads of State or Government on 8 May, at the Super Bock Arena – Pavilhão Rosa Mota.

Porto City Hall intends to strengthen the budget to the municipal programme Porto Solidary with 1.050 million euros, to be implemented in 2021, 2022 and 2023. This proposition will be presented during the Executive Meeting on 3rd May. This is a proposal by the municipal majority headed by Rui Moreira.

The Municipal Executive headed by Rui Moreira proposes to give a 200 thousand euros financial support to the entrepreneurs in the travelling amusement sector, which has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The proposal will be presented during the Municipal Executive Meeting, scheduled for 3rd May.

Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira presented welcoming remarks during the R&T Conference Impact of Disruptive Technologies on Defence that is held, this year, under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The event was scheduled to take place in Porto, but took to the virtual format due to the ongoing pandemic.

Porto City Hall has built a robust program for the administration of vaccines in the city, with a capacity to inoculate circa 2000 people per day; the drive-thru vaccination centre, set up in the Queimódromo, is ready to go since February. The Municipality of Porto has been in constant communication with the two ACES [Health Centre Groups) in the city and articulated the availability of vaccination sites.