The PS secretary general accuses the government to escape responsibility for the situation of fires in the country and asks for explanations.
On the sidelines of a visit to the Agricultural Vale do Sousa Agricultural Fair, this Saturday, the PS secretary general accused the government of “lack of sense of state” in the fight against fires, arguing that it is necessary “political courage” to take action and that the proposals of the PS were plagiarized.
“From my point of view, the government is expressing a lack of sense of state, because political courage is needed to determine the contingency situation and to determine the situation of calamity. It is necessary meaning of state, and the government has not yet shown a sense of state,” said José Luís Carneiro in Penafiel (Porto district).
Asked by journalists about the position of the PS in the face of the proposal of a pact for forests by the government, José Luís Carneiro said that “the PS has had a very constructive position.”
“I proposed to the government to call the European Civil Protection mechanism on August 1st. The government said it was not necessary, then the planes were damaged and could not operate. It was asking for the planes late, Morocco, and then triggering the European mechanism,” he recalled.
The PS leader continued to remember that he proposed “that the Government became a warning situation to the contingency situation “and the executive” did not “, considering José Luís Carneiro, who was” another mistake “by the team led by Luís Montenegro (PSD/CDS-PP).
“Third: I proposed the declaration of calamity. The government did not want to do so. We will still evaluate the harmful effects that eventually result from not declaring the calamity situation,” he said.
The PS secretary general also responded to the proposal of a pact for forests from 2025 to 2050, noting that the government is “telling the Portuguese that, fundamentally, wants to refer the problem for a time to which it can no longer be held responsible”.
“The government has to be held responsible for what it has not done over these several months in the government. The PS let all proposals – some ongoing, and others prepared – and the government did not execute what it had to execute,” said José Luís Carneiro.
In addition, he accused Luís Montenegro’s executive of “plagiarizing” PS and “presenting them as his”, something that “is not honest from the point of view of the relationship of confidence that should be constituted among parties that have responsibilities to the country.”
The PS leader also recalled that after the 2017 fires the previous governments presented 12 major forest reform legislative diplomas that had the lead of the PSD, noting that for a possible dialogue “the starting point is that the government explains to the country where it has placed these diplomas.”
The PS leader also insisted on obtaining answers to the four questions asked on Thursday, related to rustic property reform, village condominiums, landscape management and fuel interruption ranges.
José Luís Carneiro also wants to know “what the government has done” in relation to registration property, Forestgal, “the public company to manage not only the forest but also agriculture” or “to the check to support producers for forest cleaning”.
“I leave one more proposal now: create a program similar to Vitis to support small producers to perform their cleaning and, in the future, in the reform of the local finance law, to incorporate a support mechanism for the municipalities to perform their obligations, namely voluntary public property cleaning” and those of “administrative execution” in the case of private.
