Bruno Magalhães helps to understand the role and rights of neighborhood associations

In a report by Jornal de Notícias, VFA lawyer Bruno Magalhães was interviewed to provide information about neighborhood associations, a form of community organization that, while not new, is experiencing significant growth in Portugal.

“One-third of the currently active neighborhood groups were created after 2010,” highlights the daily publication. “Dialogue with political authorities and the promotion of community life are the main tasks of these groups that exist across the country.”

Bruno Magalhães agrees. The function of these associations is to be “an active and legitimate voice to demand the improvement of social, cultural, urban, transportation, leisure areas, accessibility conditions, among others,” mentions the lawyer, as quoted in the article written by journalist Sara Sofia Gonçalves.

And what rights do these types of organizations have? Bruno Magalhães responds: “The constitutional regulation of local governance dedicates an exclusive chapter to neighborhood organizations, comprising three articles—without prejudice to other occasional provisions—from which two essential rights emerge: the right to petition local authorities and the right to participate, without voting rights, in the parish council assembly.”

The full report – in Portuguese – can be read in the PDF document we have made available below: