Medina leaves Lisbon City Hall for AICEP – Economy
The outgoing mayor of Lisbon City Council, the socialist Fernando Medina, resigned on Monday as councilor, for which he was elected in the municipal councils in September, when he lost the presidency to the social democrat Carlos Moedas.
The press advances that the mayor will return to AICEP, Portugal’s Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade, where he spent two years, between 2003 and 2005, having left to assume a portfolio of Secretary of State for Employment and Professional Training in the Government.
“I hereby formalize my resignation from the position of councilor not the next executive councilor. It was a thoughtful resolution, listening and listening to the opinions of several people throughout the last one, but in the end it was what it always had to be. An individual decision “, is read in a letter addressed to the president of the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon, José Maximiano Leitão, which Lusa had access to. Recalling the roles of councilor responsible for Finance for two years and president of the municipality for six years, Fernando Medina underlined that the political framework that emerged from the latest municipal news, held on September 26, “is different” from the last ones. eight years and said that his resignation is “the solution that best serves the interests of the city, the functioning of the council’s executive meetings and the capacity of the city council’s inability to focus on the future and not the past”.
“Unlike the Government, where only members appointed by the prime minister are part of the executive, the one appointed in the municipalities integrates the executive. My departure from the City Council makes life easier for the future organs of the municipality, to see the level of personalization of the debate and focusing the political discussion on finding solutions for the challenges of the future,” he explained.
Despite this decision, Fernando Medina stressed: “I will never cease to have a connection to the city. As I said weeks ago, and I repeat again after the known results, Lisbon is the city of my life”.
In the resignation letter, the socialist also referred that he does not need to hold any position to remain attentive to the development of Lisbon, considering that the city today has “a solid economic and financial situation and a wide range of ongoing projects”.
In this sense, the outgoing president assured that he will remain “always civically active and committed” not that he believes to be the best for the country’s capital.
In the municipal updates of September 26, the social democrat Carlos Moedas was elected mayor of Lisbon by the coalition “Novos Tempos” (PSD / CDS-PP / MPT / PPM / Aliança), which won 34.25% of the votes , removing the autarchy from the PS, which led the executive in the capital for the last 14 years.
Fernando Medina, who succeeded António Costa in the leadership of the capital, this year re-applied for the position by the coalition “Mais Lisboa” (PS / Livre).
The inauguration of social democrat Carlos Moedas as mayor of Lisbon is scheduled for Monday, October 18, at 17:00, in Praça do Município, in a ceremony in which the elected councilors will take office, as well as the municipal deputies elected to the Lisbon Municipal Assembly and the presidents of the Parish Councils elected, in their inherent capacity as municipal deputies.
According to the official results, still provisional, the coalition “New Times” (PSD / CDS-PP / MPT / PPM / Aliança) got seven councilors, with 34.25% of the votes (83,121 votes); the coalition “Mais Lisboa” (PS / Livre) also obtained seven councilors, with 33.3% (80,822 votes); the CDU (PCP / PEV) two, with 10.52% (25,528 votes); and BE got a mandate, with 6.21% (15,063).