One week on from angry protests outside parliament, MPs act
A week on from angry scenes outside parliament – where furious firefighters railed against the lack of consideration for their profession – parliament has started to act.
Yesterday afternoon, MPs gave their general approval to recognising the profession of firefighter as one of risk and rapid wear and tear and to strengthening its social status, with all parties pledging to seek consensus in committee stages in order to enhance the profession.
The proposals were included in two PCP bills and approved by CHEGA, Bloco de Esquerda, PCP, Livre and PAN – with abstention by PSD, PS, Iniciativa Liberal (IL) and CDS.
At the end of voting, parliamentary benches stood up and applauded dozens of firefighters, some in uniform, who had been watching the debate from the public galleries.
During MPs interventions, PSD’s José Antunes dos Santos stressed that the government this week had announced the creation of a working group to prepare a proposal for a career, benefits, perks and training for volunteer and professional firefighters.
“The creation of the working group will be the start of a process that we want to be quick, effective and structural in order to give firefighters and the country better solutions than those presented by the PCP,” he explained, suggesting the Communists’ bill was motivated by “a populist and electioneering logic” wiping “the slate clean of the very little work” they did during the “geringonça” (the time period in which PS Socialists governed with the support of left wing parties which have all since suffered heavily in the polls).
PS deputy André Rijo said “it is primarily up to the government to push through legislation to make changes to the careers and conditions of public administration professionals”, stressing that he hopes the working group presented by the executive will give a “favourable outcome” to the “legitimate demands of Portuguese firefighters”.
He too criticised the PCP’s legislation, saying PS draft resolutions in the past have been better – but recognised there is an urgent need to make improvements to firefighters’ socio-professional conditions, so essentially that is why PS was voting the way it did.
Ditto CHEGA, whose leader André Ventura pointed out that it didn’t matter who had proposed the bill, this was something that needed to be approved “here in the house of democracy” and ‘now’.
All other parties gave varying speeches saying much the same thing: the time has come to face up to firefighters’ demands as thoroughly legitimate and long (some would say scandalously) overdue.
Source: LUSA
