Today’s parliamentary session, the first debate since a series of storms hit Portugal, causing drastic losses of life, property, and environment, was marked by tense exchanges between MPs from the opposition, Chega, and the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), forcing the speaker to interrupt proceedings several times to restore order.
Ventura went on the offensive in typically combative style: “Can you stand here and say the government responded well? After people died repairing roofs because of your government’s extreme incompetence, people died replacing the state?”
The remarks prompted protests from the PSD benches and requests from Ventura for the speaker, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, to control the chamber. “You set the worst example in this house,” the Chega leader accused, provoking an uproar across the Assembly.
Once debate resumed, Chega leader Ventura fired a rapid series of questions at Prime Minister Luís Montenegro: “Why were the armed forces only deployed after they should already have been on the ground? Why did the SIRESP system fail again? Why were European mechanisms not activated earlier?” He concluded that “while people were dying fixing roofs, you should have mobilised the state. The responsibility is yours as well.”
Meanwhile, Portugal’s prime minister dismissed the accusations, focusing his interventions on announcing that Portugal’s support package in response to recent storms has been increased by around €1 billion, while the country’s two main disaster-response bodies, the National Institute of Emergency Medicine (INEM) and the National Authority of Emergencies and Civil Protection, will undergo reforms to improve performance.
Prime minister Luís Montenegro also revealed that a new recovery programme, the PTRR, described as an “exclusively Portuguese” recovery and resilience plan, will be approved by the Government on Friday, though details remain limited.
The initial financial rescue plan, largely aimed at central Portugal, was valued at €2.5 billion when unveiled in early February. Speaking during the fortnightly parliamentary debate at the Assembly of the Republic, Montenegro raised the total to €3.5 billion.
“Faced with a situation of calamity, we adopted measures unprecedented in speed, impact and scope,” he said.
The government will approve the broad outlines of the PTRR, Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience, aimed at long-term rebuilding following widespread damage.
The plan will rest on three pillars: recovery focused on affected people and businesses; resilience through infrastructure, planning, prevention and adaptation (water, forests, seismic risk, energy, communications and cybersecurity); institutional reform, including INEM, Civil Protection and critical infrastructure security.
Montenegro described the programme as a “collective challenge”, saying it would involve parliament, political parties, regional authorities, social partners, academia and both the current president and president-elect António José Seguro.
The government highlighted a series of already-approved measures in today’s parliamentary session, forming part of their plan to restore the country's losses:
- Up to €10,000 for home reconstruction — 14,491 applicants
- Emergency income support up to €12,900 annually — 3,662 beneficiaries
- €2bn credit line for businesses — 4,697 applications
- Agricultural support — 6,131 applications (€384m)
- Employment support including social-security exemptions — 5,213 requests
- Job-retention schemes and simplified lay-off regime covering thousands of workers
- Loan and tax moratoriums until 30 April
- €650m for urgent infrastructure repairs, including €400m for roads and rail
- €250m for municipalities, prioritising school repairs
- €20m for cultural heritage restoration
- Temporary toll exemptions in worst-hit areas
Source: DN
