Under fire and likely to remain so for some time yet this afternoon, the prime minister has managed to inject some positive news into today’s parliamentary debate – the first since the deadly storms of early February which devastated large swathes of the central region.
Even though the government’s handling of the crisis is being heavily criticised by opposition parties, Luís Montenegro has stressed that state support measures have already topped €3.5 billion (a billion euros more than the figure originally presented) – and that ‘never before’ has a government cut so much in the way of bureaucracy, so that people are able to access the help they need as fast as possible.
On the subject of his ‘missing’ Minister of Internal Administration – the last incumbent having resigned after months of criticism over her perceived failings – Mr Montenegro stressed that a replacement is going to be announced next week.
And on the subject of the special PTRR (the initials for a Portuguese ‘transformation, recovery and resilience programme’), he said that the Council of Ministers will approve the various measures tomorrow.
“The state never does everything perfectly, but it has never responded with this alacrity and efficiency in the face of a catastrophe”, he told MPs who are, nonetheless, using the afternoon to air their perceptions of the handling of the last chaotic weeks in which 19 people lost their lives.
Source material: SIC/ LUSA
