The Assembly of the Republic today approved three draft resolutions aimed at equalizing the support and scholarships of Paralympic athletes to the Olympians, who will now download to the Committee on Culture, Communication, Sports and Youth.
The projects, presented by CDS / PP, Left Bloc and PAN, that recommend to the Government “the attribution of scholarships and supports for Paralympic athletes equal to the Olympic athletes”, were approved with the abstention of the PS deputies, after last year a proposed amendment to the State Budget for the same purpose was adopted.
CDS / PP deputy João Almeida considered that “Paralympic sport is a cause without owners” and warned of the need for society to look at Paralympic athletes “without penalty and without prejudice” in a “situation of equality”.
André Silva of the PAN criticized the current “unjustified difference” in the value attributed to the preparation “which is 30,000 euros per year for an Olympic athlete and 8,750 euros for a Paralympic”.
The discrepancies of values extend — to the allocated scholarships, which for a level 1 Olympic athlete is 1,357 and for a Paralympian it amounts to 518 euros.
The PSD, by the voice of Pedro Pimpão, considered that the equation “is a matter of equity”, like the Left Bloc, that it considered essential to fight “the discrimination that still exists”.
Political power has been increasing the values made available for the preparation programs of the Paralympic Games, but has postponed equating the values attributed to Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
The contract for the preparation of the Tokyo2020 Games between the Paralympic Committee of Portugal and the Government has a value of 6.9 million euros, an amount that exceeds 3.1 million for the Rio2016 Games and 4.6 million the value made available to London2012.
Last July, the Government equated the values of the prizes awarded to athletes for good results in the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, World Championships and European Championships.
In Olympic and Paralympic Games, the values become equal, with 50 thousand euros for a gold medal, 30 thousand for silver and 20 thousand for bronze.
The previous legislation provided prizes of 40 thousand euros, 25 thousand and 17,5 thousand in the case of the Olympians and 20, 12.5 and 7.5 in Paralympics.
