The President of the Republic said on Tuesday (3 February) that he asked the Prime Minister why the European Civil Protection Mechanism was not activated in the face of Kristin depression and the justification was that “it was not a contribution that made a difference”.
“I asked what this could effectively change and the Prime Minister also explained to me that what could have a useful effect in immediate and rapid terms was not a contribution that made a difference. That’s it. I accepted it. Until proven otherwise, I 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 was speaking to journalists as part of a visit to the municipality of Ourém, in the district of Santarém, one of the areas affected by the Kristin depression.
The President of the Republic also said that the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro (PSD), responded to him that the European Civil Protection Mechanism could not help resolve the problem of telecommunications operators and the reconstitution of the electrical network, which affect the Central region.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa criticized the existence of electricity poles “from the time of Maria Cachucha”, even more than 50 years old, and argued that the country cannot have electrical networks like that, noting, however, that there were aspects that have been improved since the fires of 2017, the year in which telecommunications “were disastrous”.
“But even so, we can’t have that much time [para] restoring telecommunications to normal,” he explained, referring to the more than 100,000 people who remain without electricity due to Storm Kristin.
In this regard, the head of state vagain defended an independent technical committee 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 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.
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