This Wednesday, February 4, the Constitutional Affairs Committee approved the urgent hearing of the Minister of Internal Administration, Maria Lúcia Amaral, and the Secretary of State for Civil Protection on the response to Storm Kristin and the operation of the SIRESP network.
The requests to hear the minister in parliament were presented by Chega and IL, with deputies from the party led by André Ventura also proposing the hearing of the Secretary of State for Civil Protection, Rui Rocha – both approved unanimously.
Chega had also proposed inviting the mayors of Coimbra and Leiria to report difficulties experienced on the ground, but this suggestion ended up being rejected with votes against by PSD and CDS-PP and abstention by the PS.
During the discussion, IL deputy Marta Ferreira Silva considered it pertinent for the minister to provide clarifications to deputies after Several complaints were made public, namely by the mayor of Batalha (Leiria district), who stated that SIRESP stopped functioning with the passing of the Kristin depression.
The deputy said she still wanted to know why this entity “has been without a chairman of the Board of Directors for more than two years” and why the working group created by the Government after the electrical blackout in April last year for the “urgent replacement” of SIRESP has not yet presented conclusions.
For Chega, deputy Nuno Gabriel considered it pertinent not only to listen to the minister and the secretary of State but also the mayors of Leiria and Coimbra, calling on parliament “whoever is on the ground”, appealing to the “sense and sensitivity” of the deputies present.
The hearing of the rulers received the agreement of all parties present, however, PSD and CDS criticized the invitation proposed by Chega to the mayors.
Social-democratic deputy Nuno Gonçalves argued that mayors “have to be on the ground” and questioned the criteria for only calling the presidents of the Leiria and Coimbra chambers to parliament and not others.
Deputy João Almeida, from CDS-PP, also highlighted that “it is not up to the Assembly of the Republic to scrutinize the work of mayors”but rather to municipal assemblies.
For the PS, Pedro Vaz considered that IL’s request, more focused on the functioning of SIRESP, erred by failing to also call the Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, to parliament.and recalled that this is a “story with a long past”.
Making reference to the working group created by the Government to replace SIRESP, Pedro Vaz pointed out that this restructuring “will never be cheap” because “cheap is expensive, as is being proven in extreme situations”.
Ten people have died since last week following bad weather. Civil Protection recorded five deaths directly associated with the passage of the Kristin depression and the Câmara da Marinha Grande announced another fatality, to which were added four deaths recorded due to falls from roofs (during repairs) or poisoning originating from a generator.
The total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, falling trees and structures, cuts or restrictions on roads and transport services, especially railway lines, the closure of schools and power, water and communications cuts are the main material consequences of the storm, which caused hundreds of injuries and displacement.
The Government declared a state of calamity until next Sunday for 68 municipalities and announced a package of support measures of up to 2.5 billion euros.
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