A proposal from the Parliamentary Group of the Communist Party calling for the resumption of the EN 125 roadworks and for the abolition of tolls on the formerly free Via do Infante motorway has been defeated in Parliament.
This is not the first time that the Communists formally have proposed a vote for the abolition of tolls on roads that were once free, and not the first time the ruling coalition has defeated the proposal so as to save an embarrassing analysis of the costs of running a toll system in the Algarve that has taxpayers subsiding the contract to the tune of €40 million a year.
The Communists said later that parties that want to see the continuation of the tolls system “once again chose to place the burden of tolls on the shoulders of citizens and micro and small enterprises.”
“While in Lisbon, party line MPs vote for keeping tolls on the Via do Infante. In the Algarve these same MPs and mayors fire off speeches against the tolls and demand their abolition, trying thus deceive the Algarve's voyters. The Communist Party condemns the political hypocrisy of those who say one thing in the Algarve and do exactly the opposite in Lisbon.'
"In the Algarve, Social Democrat MPs have demanded that the government fix the EN 125 yet in Parliament they have voted in exactly the opposite direction.”
For the Communists it really is most regrettable that these Algarve MPs say one thing and do the opposite. It also is disheartening for the Algarve voters who gave them the power to represent their interests, just to see them following the party line.
