Local Government is essential for citizens, for improving the living conditions of populations, for social welfare, and for respecting fundamental collective values such as the environment, culture, and landscape, in a Public Administration that, according to the constitutional design, is polycentric and functionally decentralized and deconcentrated.
Therefore, the democratic organization of the State necessarily includes the existence of local authorities, and the principle of subsidiarity requires that what can be done, or done better, by the local authorities should be done by them. And in terms of proximity, many things are done better and with minimal "costs." Looking at the State Budget Law for 2025, the forecasted revenues amount to 133,761,000,000 euros, while the expenses with the Parish Financing Fund reach only 396,604,751 euros, which is less than 1% of the State's revenues.
Now, if local authorities and their respective populations were able to handle the forced mergers of 2013 (the "union of parishes"), they will surely know how to operate after the mutually agreed divorces, voted on in the Parliament on January 17, 2025, which will lead to the reinstatement of 302 parishes. These parishes will again face some challenges, particularly regarding their movable and immovable assets, as well as other rights and duties that will need to be "divided" (again). But nothing that, with common sense and proper advice, cannot be solved. As we have written in the Parish Journal, even in cases where there were joint investments that resulted in indivisible assets (such as the purchase of a passenger van or a vehicle or equipment), an agreement between the parishes will always be possible, especially considering the contractual autonomy of public entities, allowing for the sharing of use (with respective expenses proportional to each parish's use).
Let the parishes learn to communicate and contract with each other.
