Freguesia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Freguesia
Category3rd-level
Assembleia de Freguesia
Politics of Portugal
Coat of arms of Portugal
Constitution
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Elections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations

Freguesia (Portuguese pronunciation:

Macau (until 2001). In the past, was also an administrative division of the other Portuguese overseas territories. The parroquia
in the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia and Asturias is similar to a freguesia. The average land area of a Portuguese parish is about 29.83 km2 (11.52 sq mi) and an average population of about 3,386 people. The largest parish by area is Alcácer do Sal (Santa Maria do Castelo e Santiago) e Santa Susana, with a land area of 888.35 km2 (342.99 sq mi), and the smallest parish by area is São Bartolomeu (Borba), with a land area of 0.208 km2 (0.080 sq mi). The most populous parish is Algueirão - Mem Martins, with a population of 68,649 people and the least populous is Mosteiro, with a population of just nineteen people.

A freguesia is a subdivision of a

Catholic
parish (paróquia in Portuguese). Be it a city district or village, the civil parish is often based on an ecclesiastical parish.

Since the creation of a democratic local administration, in 1976, the Portuguese parishes have been ruled by a system composed by an executive body (the junta de freguesia, "parish board/council") and a deliberative body (the assembleia de freguesia, "parish assembly"). The members of the assembleia de freguesia are publicly elected every four years. The presidents of the parish boards are also members of the municipal assembly.[1]

History

The parish, in contrast with the municipalities, had their base in the ecclesiastical divisions that "had its origin in the fact that neighbours professed the same religion and professed their faith and divinity in the same temple".

Latin
: parochia) became affiliated with the religious entity.

Present situation

Portugal

Further information: List of freguesias of Portugal

Before the 2013 local government reforms, the 308 municipalities were subdivided into 4,259 civil parishes.

sovereign debt crisis with the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, the Portuguese government was obliged to reduce the number of municipal and parish local governments after July 2012.[5] The government of Pedro Passos Coelho introduced a plan to reform the administrative divisions, claiming it would create efficiencies and save money. The plan envisioned the reform of the management, territorial geography and political form of how Portugal functioned at the local level, including specifically at the freguesia and concelho levels.[3] It was determined that these changes would then be formalized before the 2013 local government elections, as part of a process to reduce expenditures, a condition of the $110 billion accord.[5] In addition to the reduction of the number of representatives in the local boards, the plan also established criteria for the reduction, amalgamation or extinction of various civil parishes.[3]

The reform was implemented according to Law 11-A/2013 of 28 January 2013, which defined the reorganization of the civil parishes.[6] This way, the number of parishes was reduced from 4,259 to 3,091.

Municipalities in Portugal are usually divided into multiple freguesias, but seven municipalities are not:

Barcelos
is the municipality with the most civil parishes (61, since 2013).

Portugal has no

Formigas Islets to Vila do Porto, in the municipalities with the same name (except for Sé, which belongs to Funchal
).

Cape Verde

Of Cape Verde's 22 municipalities, which form the highest level of sub-national government in the small African state, some but not all are subdivided into parishes. There are 32 parishes in the country.

Macau

handover to China in 1999. During the period of Portuguese rule it was divided into two municipalities which were subdivided into a total of seven parishes. In 2001 the municipalities were dissolved and their administrative functions transferred to the Municipal Affairs Bureau
. The parishes were legally retained but no longer serve an administrative function.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "7th Constitutional Revision" (PDF). Assembly of the Republic (Portugal). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  2. ^
    hdl:10216/19439
    .
  3. ^ a b c Gabinete do Ministro Adjunto e dos Assuntos Parlamentares, ed. (2011). "Documento Verde da Reforma da Administração Local" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: Governo da República. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. ^ Data of the Official Administrative Charter of Portugal, 2011
  5. ^ a b "Governo e 'troika' acordam reduzir número de câmaras e freguesias" (in Portuguese). Lisbon, Portugal: RTP Online. 4 May 2011. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  6. ^ "Law nr. 11-A/2013" (PDF). Diário da República (in Portuguese). Assembly of the Republic (Portugal). Retrieved 13 August 2014.

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Freguesia&oldid=1226220356"