Speaking to Lusa, the mayor of Évora, Carlos Pinto de Sá, elected by the CDU, indicated that, last year, the reduction of municipal debt amounted to almost four million euros, which corresponds to a decrease of close to 7%.

At the end of 2022, he said, this Alentejo municipality had an overall debt of around 53 million euros.

"From an economic point of view, it is, for the year we had, an excellent performance, both from the municipality and in the municipality, which, incidentally, recorded economic indices higher than the national average," said the mayor.

Pinto de Sá pointed out that the positive operating results (2.7 million euros) "have happened since 2013 for the second time" and that the net results, although negative, decreased "substantially, from four million to one and a half million."

"In 2013, operating results were negative by more than 11 million euros and net results were also negative by more than 12 million," he said.

Last year, the budget balance and the budget balance also had positive figures, in the order of 11 million euros and 8.4 million euros, respectively.

The average payment term of the city council, the mayor stressed, "increased due to difficulties, especially with inflation," going from 49 days in 2021 to 64 at the end of last year - still, "below 90 days."

In a year marked by the nomination of Évora for European Capital of Culture in 2027, he said, this chamber faced a difficult 2022, with "an inflationary process that was already coming from the pandemic and that was later aggravated with the war."

"And that had consequences. For example, the lack of materials affected the construction and the contracts that the chamber launched. In some cases, we could not even find contractors for the works we intended to do," said Pinto de Sá.

Still, according to the mayor, 1.2 million euros were invested in improving conditions in schools and 700 thousand euros for the creation of a new road access to the industrial park, among other projects.

"I would also highlight the area of housing, because we have taken important steps under the Local Housing Plan, with the support of 163 owners in preparing their processes to get support for home rehabilitation," he added.

Admitting that there were also "negative aspects" in 2022, the mayor acknowledged that the council has not yet been able to respond to the problems that exist in the road network and in the area of water supply.

"Unfortunately, we did not have the financial availability to make greater investments, but we have already begun to requalify the road network and the water supply network," he said.

The 2022 county accountability proposal will be discussed and voted on Friday by the city council.

Carlos Pinto de Sá is serving his third and final term as mayor of Évora, whose executive is composed of two elected members of the CDU, two of the PS, two of the PSD and one of a citizens' movement.