"There won't be a policeman on every beach", guaranteed this Thursday the minister of Environment and Climate Action, on Porto de Mós beach, in Lagos, where the official opening of the 2021 bathing season took place.
On this Algarve beach, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, with the help of a lifeguard, hoisted the green flag indicating less than 50% occupation of the beach.
In fact, according to the beach capacity defined by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Porto de Mós will have a capacity for 900 people…but this morning, with sun, but with the north and cold water, even in June, despite being a national holiday, the number of bathers would not reach two hundred.
Responding to the journalists' questions about whether there will be the capacity to oversee the capacity of the beaches, the minister replied that “there has been oversight capacity, in the certainty that Portugal is not a police state. There won't be a policeman on every beach, nor do the Portuguese want a policeman on every beach. This is impossible".
According to the capacity defined by the APA, underlined Matos Fernandes, “approximately 860 people can be on the beaches all over the country at the same time. In the Algarve, there are 212 people at the same time. There is great capacity here».
For the government official, the answer lies in “civism” and “common sense”, with the help of the application created by the APA. «We have to know how to use the information from the app, Info Praia, as a way to make choices before arriving at the beach. and we have to, when we get to the beach, also make these options and obviously not go to beaches that are very crowded».
Last year, he reinforced, the inspection on the beaches "happened in a reasonably efficient way".
“There is a rule that, with free access to the beach, the beaches can be closed in case of non-compliance. And that happened, last year, twice. And, having happened, it did not happen again. Because obviously no one wants to contribute to their beach being closed», stressed the minister.
João Pedro Matos Fernandes, who even frequents the beaches of Lacobrigenses, preferring Meia Praia, argued that «Lagos is a good place to rehearse [flags relating to the occupation of the sands], because here we have all kinds of beaches. It's a good laboratory».
The minister, who was accompanied by Inês dos Santos Costa, Secretary of State for the Environment, also spoke about the rules that, he defended, are “clear”.
«We have to know how to use the summer, sunbathe, which is the greatest anti-depressant I know, but using common sense rules, which are the same as last year, the rules that people know and which are very simple».
However, just yesterday Rui Rio, president of the PSD and leader of the opposition, precisely accused the Government of not defining the rules clearly.
In his speech at the official opening ceremony of the bathing season, on Porto de Mós beach, minister Matos Fernandes replied to Rio: «I can't understand the president of the PSD who said yesterday “let's see if they define clear rules”… I know the president of the PSD doesn't have great reading habits, but this isn't even in romance language. It is the so-called decree-law language, which is a clear, clear language that everyone understands. Also because this was a decree-law made by engineers and therefore does not have those things that jurists sometimes put. It even has the rules clearly defined. There is a lot of work behind this here!».
Speaking to journalists from Sul Informação and from the TSF after the ceremony, the government official reinforced: «the rules are really well defined: three meters between each umbrella, three meters between each awning, one and a half meters between each tent, one and a half meters between the last tablecloth. my group and the first towel of the group that is next door, on the access to the beach, which is a public space, you have to wear a mask, on the beach it is not mandatory, whenever you go to a cafe or restaurant, as in any cafe or restaurant in any city and town in this country, you must wear the mask. The rules are crystal clear! They are the same as last year, with one or another very small change and common sense».
For his part, Hugo Pereira, mayor of Lagos, guaranteed that «the Algarve will know how to welcome those who choose us and will know how to respect the rules».
In his county, assured the mayor, «everything is prepared for an excellent bathing season».
«It will still not be a summer as we liked, at the level of 2019, but it will be the summer of great recovery», predicted the mayor of Lagos.
A prediction that can even be fulfilled, but that the news that would come out a few hours later, the removal of Portugal (Algarve included) from the “green list” of the United Kingdom, will make it more difficult to achieve.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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