PS deputy Miguel Freitas strongly criticized the “blockade”, by the PSD and the CDS-PP, of the proposal for a visit by the Committee on Agriculture and the Sea (CAM) to the areas affected by the fires registered this month in the Algarve, presented by the Socialist deputies on the committee.
“With this decision, the PSD and the CDS-PP are preventing the deputies from inspecting the Government's support measures for the populations and areas affected by the fires”, denounces Miguel Freitas.
The Algarvian parliamentarian stresses that the visit of the permanent commission for monitoring forest fires (based at CAM) to the municipalities of Tavira and São Brás de Alportel aimed to find out 'in loco' the extent of the damage caused by the fires, as well as direct contact with victims , mayors and Civil Protection agents, in order to assess the impact and effectiveness of the support strategy proposed by the Government.
"This is a real blockade of the PSD/CDS-PP majority to the initiatives of the Assembly of the Republic in matters of inspection and represents a total indifference to the suffering of people, taking into account that, in matters of forest fires, this commission it has always maintained direct and permanent contact with the affected populations in the past, in order to help them solve their problems”, says the Algarve deputy.
Stressing that the social support proposed by the Government to the victims of the fires “is important”, Miguel Freitas considers that this assistance is however insufficient, with the need to move forward with a set of measures that allow for the establishment of a follow-up in support of the populations and the environmental and economic recovery of the damaged areas.
The socialist parliamentarian also criticized the veto, by the PSD/CDS-PP majority, to the proposed hearing, today, in Parliament, by the minister of Parliamentary Affairs Miguel Relvas, so that he could clarify the content of the measures to be developed by the interministerial commission created to manage the support for victims of forest fires.
“In addition to making it impossible to discuss the draft resolution presented by the PS in the Assembly of the Republic, in which we proposed a set of measures to support the areas and victims affected by the fires and block the visit of the Agriculture and Sea Commission to the region, the majority of the PSD/CDS-PP also prevents serious and rigorous debate on this matter, preventing the minister from being heard in Parliament, demonstrating a total departure from reality and an absolute indifference to the problems of the populations”, criticizes Miguel Freitas.
Following the fire in Tavira and São Brás de Alportel, the biggest in the last five years in the region, the PS presented a set of measures for granting social support to the affected populations and reforestation of burned areas.
The draft resolution, whose discussion on the last day of Parliament's work was made impossible by the majority that supports the Government, proposed, among other measures, the creation of an emergency account for the reconstruction of houses, financial aid paid in a single installment to families victims of fires, as well as a plan to recover around 26 thousand hectares of burned forest through reforestation and environmental stabilization of streams in the eastern Algarve.
Comments