Marcelo scolds the Government and criticizes infrastructure “from the time of Maria Cachucha”

The President of the Republic considered that the Government’s explanation to the population about the impact of Kristin’s depression “did not go well”. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa questioned the Prime Minister about the reasons for not activating the European Civil Protection Mechanism and soon received an answer.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa criticized the way the Government communicated with people who were victims of Storm Kristin, repeatedly stating that “it didn’t go well, it didn’t go well, it didn’t go well”.

“It’s not because I say that the Government was better or worse. There are things in which it was better and things in which it was worse. The explanation to people, in many cases, didn’t go well, it didn’t go well, it didn’t go well”, said the Head of State, on a visit to the municipality of Ourém, in the district of Santarém, one of the areas affected by the depression.

Asked about the statements made by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Maria Lucia Amaralwho said he did not know what failed in the response to Kristin’s depression, the President of the Republic refused to make specific comments, indicating that “it has already happened in many cases that clarity, the lack of clarity cost certain Governments a lot”.

The head of state spoke to journalists on Tuesday night, as part of a visit to the municipality of Ourém, in the district of Santarém, one of the areas affected by the Kristin depression.

Already about the support measures announced by the Government for the areas affected by the storm, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa defended the Executiverefusing that they were presented late, saying that it was necessary to have an exact idea of ​​the extent of what had happened.

“The measures were adequate. I remember other less serious calamities, in which measures smaller than this took longer to be taken”, he said, highlighting that the The concern now is that the measures are all applied “and applied well”, moving them from paper to practice.

Thus, the President of the Republic wished that “the thousands” of people who need monetary support to be able to rebuild their normal lives “Receive the money in the next few days”considering that “the ideal would be for the response to be immediate”.

The head of state rrefused to equate this calamity with the 2017 firesin which demanded the resignation of the then socialist minister Constança Urbano de Sousahighlighting that in 2017 “there were two monumental fires and more than 100 people died”.

Marcelo’s big question

The President of the Republic asked Luís Montenegro why the European Civil Protection Mechanism was not activated in the face of depression Kristin.

A justification was that “it was not a contribution that made a difference”.

“Ready. I then accepted. Until proven otherwiseI assume that whoever exercises executive power considered this, because it had been considered and it was understood that it was not justified”, declared Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The Head of State also said that the Prime Minister replied that the European Civil Protection Mechanism could not help solve the problem of telecommunications operators and the reconstruction of the electrical networkwhich affect the Central region.

Marcelo criticizes infrastructure

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa criticized the existence of Electricity poles “from the time of Maria Cachucha”, even more than 50 years oldand argued that the country cannot have electrical networks like that.

“But even so, we can’t have that much time [para] the restoration of telecommunications normality”, he explained, referring to the more than 100 thousand people still without electricity due to storm Kristin.

In this regard, the head of state once again defended an independent technical commission to evaluate the response to the Kristin depression, adding that the report produced could reach the conclusion that Civil Protection needs more human resources and more resources dispersed throughout the territory to face calamity situations.

The President of the Republic also considered it “very important” to monitor what the Government is doing with European institutions, arguing that “what it was already doing to review the PRR [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência]now it has to be turned towards this calamity”.

“It was being reviewed in terms of execution deadlines, now it is time to review in terms… And the European institutions are the first to accept, because the PRR was born precisely from a calamity, it was Covid-19, therefore, if a calamity situation arises at the level of a country that justifies there being a reallocation of projects, resources and a review of deadlines, it has to be”, he declared, also highlighting the importance of European cohesion funds for reconstruction in the affected area.