Algarve MP, Paulo Sá, has continued to muddle the decisions of a privately owned bank with ‘public service.’
Concerned about the impending closure of Caixa Agrícola in Salir, leaving locals without a bank, the communist MP has raised the matter in parliament and now wants an answer from the Minister of Finance.
"Despite the discontent of the population, Salir parish Council and Loulé Council, the bank’s management was insensitive to the arguments,” and will close the underperforming branch, lamented the MP.
With the closure of the bank, "the population of Salir, mostly elderly, are even more isolated and deprived of essential public services, including banking," said Sá, arguing that the possible installation of an ATM, "is not a solution for the population, which will be 15 kilometres away from the nearest bank branch."
There are banks in Loulé, 15 kms away and in Alte, 13 kms away.
The MP admits that Caixa Agrícola is a "privately owned bank" and that it can decide to do what it wants with regard to its branch network, but stresses that the closure, "is part of a more general policy of public service degradation and the abandonment of the population which successive governments have imposed."
in addition to these tenuous arguments, Paulo Sá addressed the following questions to the Minister of Finance,
"How does the Government evaluate the decision of the Caixa Agrícola to close its Salir branch, a village in the Algarve’s interior? Has the Government listened to the Salir Council and Loulé Municipal Council in this process? Will the Government intervene with Caixa Agrícola to try to reverse this decision that deeply affects a territory that is facing a process of depopulation and desertification?"
It is no good citing the public service remit of Caixa Geral do Depósitos and calling on it to set up a branch - this taxpayer owned bank is busy reducing its own branch network in line with a general slimming down needed to become profitable.
