Carneiro avoids asking Montenegro for “responsibility” and calls for the activation of European civil protection mechanisms

José Luís Carneiro he said he did not want to “demand political responsibilities now”, refusing to ask for the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs. The PS secretary general, nevertheless, urged the Government to activate the European civil protection mechanism to respond to the consequences of the Kristin depression.

“We insist on the immediate activation of the European Civil Protection Mechanism because it allows means and resources that are important to respond to this crisis”, asked José Luís Carneiro at a press conference after a meeting of the PS National Secretariat, at the party’s headquarters, in Lisbon, on the impacts of the passage of the Kristin depression through mainland Portugal. The PS leader asks to put into practice “the measures foreseen in the National Preventive Civil Protection Strategy” and to guarantee “compliance with the measures foreseen in the Civil Emergency Planning”.

Former Minister of Internal Administration, in the PS government, José Luís Carneiro says he is available to “collaborate and cooperate with the Government and the country’s institutions to serve the people.” However, as in Housing, Health or Justice, the PS secretary general continues to regret the lack of dialogue with Luís Montenegro. “I was not contacted by the Government, nor by the Prime Minister, nor by the Minister of Internal Affairs, however we continue with the same availability as I had the first hour I spoke here at the headquarters of the Socialist Party”, he said.

Asked about the suggestion by the presidential candidate supported by the PS, António José Seguro, to extend the deadlines for the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) to help rebuild the regions affected by the storm, the socialist leader said he agreed, adding that compliance with the execution deadlines in the affected regions may be at stake.

Regarding the words of the Minister of Internal Administration, Maria Lúcia Amaral, who spoke of work in a “context of invisibility” and a process of “collective learning”, José Luís Carneiro only made a brief note and did not want to remember his time as holder of the portfolio. “I heard it in the same terms as the journalist, with my two ears”, he limited himself to commenting.

The Government declared a calamity situation, which was extended on Sunday, after a meeting of the Council of Ministers.

This Monday, the PS proposed moving forward with a National Climate Recovery, Stabilization and Resilience Program (you can read more here). The socialists gathered several contributions from experts and, after the National Secretariat meeting, agreed on a set of measures that they will propose to the Government.

The PS understands that the Calamity Situation should not be judged week by week and calls for a “re-evaluation of the need to integrate other municipalities into the respective scope, namely in the districts of Aveiro and Coimbra and Lezíria do Tejo.”

A socialist source said the DN that the PS considers that for a better response to emergency situations, the Calamity Situation should be established over a longer period of time. In this case, Carneiro considered the possibility of establishing a deadline “between three and six months”.