Rui Moreira talks about the future of power at Radio station TSF in Porto

How will political power be exercised in the future? What are the challenges facing municipal power in a future of decentralisation? How will the European dream be fulfilled?

These are the most significant topics under debate today at the TSF radio station, marking its 30th anniversary with a special broadcasting in Porto.

The rain was relentless in the first day of March in Porto; still, Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira and Mayor of the neighbour city of Gaia, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, were more than pleased to answer the journalist's questions on the future of power and the fact that a democracy with no voters is threatened by populism.

Rui Moreira shared his vision on what the future might be. The Mayor considers that citizens vote because they expect that those who are elected "can influence the way things are going".

But, in fact, and Moreira hopes this is not a real scenario in the future, the widespread idea that "the municipal management has enough resources" is not at all correct as "in the framework of our centralist nation, the local authorities are not as empowered as they should be", Moreira affirms.

Regarding the European context, Rui Moreira is categorical in stating that "if we wish to have a unified Europe, we ought to have a Europe of cities", meaning that the role of municipalities is fundamental in building the European common endeavour.

In turn, the Mayor of Gaia, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues pinpointed charisma as a concurrent concept to power and concluded by saying that Mayor Rui Moreira's undoubtful charisma is a plus when it comes to exercising power and overcoming certain statutory determinisms, referring to the ongoing decentralisation debate in the country.

On the vote cast by the people, Rui Moreira sees that it depends on the election and, in this regard, the municipal elections are those where citizens make their choice for the individual person and not parties.

To conclude, Mayor Rui Moreira stated that he hopes parties can adjust to the new era as "they are the salt of democracy".