The prime minister is meeting with the President of the Republic today after receiving the parliamentary parties in São Bento, to analyse the new framework of measures to contain the covid-19 pandemic after the end of the state of emergency.

A source from the Presidency of the Republic confirmed to the Lusa agency that this meeting was taking place, stating that this is the usual weekly meeting, but in the form of a dinner.

António Costa’s dinner with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa takes place after the President of the Republic has already announced on Tuesday that he will not extend the state of emergency, which ends on the 2nd of May.

On Thursday, April 30, after the Council of Ministers, the Government announces the new legal framework following the end of the state of emergency, being likely to resort to the declaration of a state of calamity due to the covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Basic Law for Civil Protection, the Council of Ministers resolution that decrees the situation of calamity may establish “limits or constraints on the movement or permanence of people, other living beings or vehicles”, as well as “sanitary and safety fences”.

After the Council of Ministers, on Thursday, António Costa will meet with the President of the Republic.

Regarding the timetable for the return to economic activity, the Prime Minister said that this Thursday it will be known which commercial sectors will resume their activity with safety standards on the 4th and 18th of May and 1st of June. According to António Costa, “the confinement release rules will come into force every 15 days, the first on 4 May, the second on 18 May and the other on 1 June”, although they do not yet include all sectors of activity.

“Therefore, after the Council of Ministers, we will announce the activities that the 4, the 18 or the 1 of June might resume – and always with restrictions on capacity and in terms of protection of individual equipment, whether for those who are attending, or in some cases for customers”, he stressed.

António Costa added that the executive’s objective, with this phased reopening calendar, “is to measure the impacts of the previous measure every 15 days, seeing if it is possible or not to take another step” in terms of lifting restrictions.