100% certain they make it as difficult as possible, as they do for most foreign investment. The stores should have been opening very soon.
The Funchal City Council (CMF) reiterated today that “the LIDL process runs its normal procedures”, through a statement that follows statements made by the leader of the JPP, Élvio Jesus, in a political initiative held during the morning.
“I would like to tell all Funchal residents that just this week Pedro Calado refused to clarify the LIDL situation. I made the request myself and was denied, as they responded that I would have to demonstrate legitimate interest and that the request was ‘inaccurate’, as if those gentlemen did not know the LIDL chain”, said the JPP leader
The statement issued by the CMF Presidency’s Office begins by stating that the municipal Executive “will not respond directly to the JPP, because this council does not have to submit to the scrutiny of parties without municipal representation”.
But then “regrets and repudiates that one can “confuse the powers of the Regional Legislative Assembly with those of the Municipal Assembly”, which in the opinion of the municipal Executive “can only be understood as an attempt to usurp functions, to intimidation of legitimately elected local bodies of power, in an attempt to gain media space during electoral periods”.
“The Funchal City Council has already said, on several occasions, that the LIDL process runs its normal procedures. The German chain has already completed 2 licensing processes (Poço Barral and next to Rotunda da Assicom), with another 2 under consideration (Rua Dr. Pita and Largo Severiano Ferraz)”, the same note adds later, reiterating the Authority led by Pedro Calado who “has every interest in making LIDL’s investment in Funchal viable, as long as all legal precepts are complied with”.
“It will be up to the investors, and never the municipality, to announce when, how and why the aforementioned investments will be made”, reads the statement, which concludes with the accusation that “everything else is smokescreens to intoxicate opinion public, in an attempt to gain a few more votes.”