The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, suggested this Saturday the beginning of the discussion on the creation in Portugal of a fund to help cover the damage caused by calamities, such as the floods of recent weeks.
“Being a collective problem, it is worth thinking about the future. If there are increasingly serious and frequent calamities, then perhaps it would be a good idea to have a fund that provides for these calamities”said the head of state, in Alcácer do Sal.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was speaking to journalists during a visit to the waterfront of this Alentejo city in the Setúbal district, which was flooded for several days due to floods on the River Sado.
Accompanied by the president of the chamber, Clarisse Campos, the President of the Republic visited several businesses that were ‘underwater’, giving words of encouragement to owners, military personnel and volunteers participating in the cleanups.
Regarding the creation of a calamity fund, the head of state highlighted that the European Union and several European countries, such as France and Spain, already have this mechanism, with “many billions” of euros to respond “when there is a calamity”.
A calamity fund “is created over time and exists to deal with larger-scale situations, in which there must be extraordinary and very high financing that State Budgets cannot normally cover”he emphasized.
Marcelo highlighted that Portugal has “an opportunity that is, despite everything, unique, which is having money from the PRR [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência]”, admitting that “a part of this PRR money can be redirected”.
However, he said, “the reprogramming of the PRR allows for certain works and certain support”in addition to the fact that this plan “will not always happen and is happening once”, just like the Portugal 2030 program, which also “does not happen always, it happens in these times once”.
The creation of a calamity fund, “perhaps, was never thought of”, as “it was never thought that it would reach a point where calamities would become the responsibility of the State and very large”, admitted the head of State.
In relation to business owners with damage from bad weather who have insurance, Marcelo considered that the situation “is being accelerated”, but expressed concern about those who do not have it, recognizing that many of them “are unable to go to the bank”.
“An immediate problem is how these establishments are going to be given financial relief to return to work, because if they are closed for a month, two months, three months, four months, it is very difficult to recover”, he warned.
Asked whether he agrees with the granting of non-refundable support, the President of the Republic replied that it is necessary to “know how far such support can go”, alluding to the global value of the losses.
“How many situations are we facing? And in how many municipalities? How much does it cost? We realize that there is a great appeal for openness to a situation like this”, he added.
Regarding whether Portugal should have asked for help through the European Union Solidarity Fund, the head of state said that Brussels has a fund “with very specific rules and covers all countries”.
“We have to think carefully about whether it’s not worth it, now that there is a certain relief with the PRR, to start thinking about a calamity fund”, he insisted.
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