"I will not compromise the city council's budget", said the mayor, independent Rui Moreira.

In statements to the Lusa news agency, the mayor clarified that the Porto Municipal Police sent the PSP a document on 16 September in response to the questions raised in the second opinion of the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD), which brings together the contributions of several municipal departments and organic units.

"We know from the PSP that at this moment the only thing missing is a signature from the minister", he said, saying he did not know why this had not yet happened.

Lusa attempted to obtain clarification from the Ministry of Internal Affairs but has not yet received a response.

The issue at hand is the request for authorization to install 117 more video surveillance cameras in the western and eastern areas of Porto, namely in streets in the Asprela, Campanhã, Estádio do Dragão, Pasteleira and Diogo Botelho areas.

After issuing an opinion on June 26 and receiving a letter from the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs on July 22 with some clarifications, the CNPD listed, in the new opinion approved on August 27, some recommendations for the new system.

Recalling that the ruling from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) would allow the Court of Auditors to pronounce itself on the contract awarding the respective system, Rui Moreira stated that the municipality "cannot wait any longer", especially as the discussion of the municipal budget for next year approaches.

"I will not compromise next year's municipal budget just to wait for the minister to sign the document one day," he said.

Rui Moreira told Lusa, however, that he hopes the Government will "define this situation", especially since it is his intention to bring the budget up for discussion at the end of this month.

"Therefore, if we do not receive a response from the minister, I will not register it, then it will be the MAI or the PSP that will make the investment," he said, recalling that the matter has been dragging on for over a year.

On July 24, 2023, Porto City Council launched a public tender for the acquisition and maintenance of the video surveillance system, under a collaboration protocol established between the municipality and the PSP.

The tender was awarded in December to Soltráfego for 1.9 million euros.

The video surveillance system, which came into operation on June 22, 2023, and has 79 cameras in the city center, has already made it possible to preserve images relating to 910 criminal proceedings, the majority of which (592) occurred this year.