Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 5th January 2023
Good morning and a Very Happy New Year to everyone.
However in terms of road accidents it was certainly not a happy new year to the families and friends of 22 people who lost their lives through road accidents. During the Christmas and New Year period, there were 5,745 accidents on Portuguese roads, 797 more than in the same period last year, and 22 deaths, six more.
According to ANSR, regarding enforcement 23,100 records were registered of drivers who were speeding and 1,625 drivers had a blood alcohol level higher than the maximum allowed, which resulted in a total of 811 arrests, 124 more than in the previous year. The Secretary of State Patricia Gasper specified that “it is above all a change of mentality and realizing that driving under the influence of alcohol is not at all acceptable” and maintained that “it is a practice that must be eradicated”.
In the lead up to the festive period there was an intensive campaign utilizing social media, and radio/television to try and drive home these messages concerning the effects of drink driving in particular and use of mobile phones and excess speed being the main causes of fatal accidents. The theme “The Best Gift is Being Present”, showing the effect on families resulting from the loss of a family member through a road accident, was in my view well thought out and appropriate. The results are therefore disappointing.
On a more positive note, however, the Portuguese Environment Agency reported on Monday that reservoirs were with an average storage of 82%, although three were still less than 20%. Last year at this time use of water for electricity production was suspended at some dams due to low water levels and given the magnitude of the drought situation at the time. However the focus is still on the Campilhas and Monte da Rocha reservoirs, both in the Sado hydrographic basin, with, respectively, 11% and 10% of their capacity, and Bravura, in the Western Algarve, with 12% of the total volume stored remains in a critical situation.
Rail strikes appear to becoming far more frequent. The National Union of Drivers of the Portuguese Railways (SMAQ) started yesterday (Tuesday) a strike that will last all week, to demand better working conditions and wage increase, according to a statement. The strike will have an higher impact between “00h00 on January 4, 2023 and 00h00 on January 6, 2023”, when workers are “on strike to perform any and all work”. Travellers are advised to check the CP website you can find the minimum services decreed by the court for those days. https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/train-times/Alerts/strike-3-to-8-january-2023
One of the biggest changes in the Civil Protection system took place yesterday with the end of the 18 district operations and relief commands (CDOS), which have been replaced by 24 sub-regional commands. This restructuring was planned for in the organic law of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, which came into force in April 2019.
In a recent interview with Lusa, the Secretary of State for Civil Protection considered that this new way of working or this “new skeleton” of Civil Protection will allow for a system “closer to territories and people”, as well as municipalities. The Secretary of State also stated that the population will not notice this change, with assistance continuing to be provided “in exactly the same way”. With the restructuring there will be some differences, namely in the municipalities whose inter-municipal communities encompass different districts.
The recent floods together with fallen trees and landslips resulting from heavy rains is a reminder of the importance of following the advice given by the civil protection authorities. We saw several instances of people driving their cars into flooded areas with the inevitable outcome; the car becoming immobilized. In one case and elderly couple cut the tapes put in place by the GNR so they could pass along a flooded road and then became trapped as the car became lodged in a whole in the road and they had to be rescued (see photo). This incidence as well as some of the landslips involving boulders falling on to roads, are good reasons why in extreme conditions, when warnings are in place, people should avoid travelling. The more people on the streets the higher the risk of injuries or worse, and places the emergencies themselves at risk in rescue operations.
Our team at Safe Communities wish you all a Safe and Very Happy New Year.
News
New Secretaries of State sworn in by the President of the Republic
Lisbon, 04 Jan 2023 (Lusa) – The six new Secretaries of State, whose appointment proposals were accepted by the President of the Republic, take office today, at 6 pm, in Belém, together with the Ministers of Infrastructure, João Galamba, and of Housing, Marina Gonçalves.
In this way, they are sworn in this afternoon by the Head of State Pedro Sousa Rodrigues, who replaces Alexandra Reis in the Treasury, Ana Fontoura Gouveia, in Energy and Climate, Hugo Pires, in the Environment, Frederico Francisco, in Infrastructures, Fernanda Rodrigues, in Housing, and Carla Alves, in Agriculture.
According to an official source of the executive, this last change, in the Ministry of Agriculture, happens due to health reasons of the outgoing Secretary of State, Rui Martinho.
The list now publicly released with the names of the six new Secretaries of State was sent by the Government on Tuesday night to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Pedro Nuno Santos, now replaced in his ministerial portfolios by João Galamba and Marina Gonçalves, resigned from the Government last Wednesday night to “assume political responsibility” for the compensation case of 500 thousand euros paid by TAP to the former Secretary of State for the Treasury Alexandra Reis.
The resignation of Pedro Nuno Santos was the third in the Government in the last week of December and the tenth to affect a member of the socialist executive with an absolute majority.
On December 27, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, dismissed Alexandra Reis as Secretary of State for the Treasury, less than a month after having invited her to this post in the Government and after four days of controversy over the compensation of 500 thousand euros that this career manager had received from TAP, a company then supervised by Pedro Nuno Santos.
Covid-19. European Commission recommends masks on flights from China
The European Commission (EC) will recommend the replacement of the use of masks by passengers on flights from China and is evaluating mandatory testing, due to the increase in SARS-CoV-2 infections in that country.
Spokesperson, Tim McPhie, announced that the Commission “prepared a draft” that “is now being refined based on conversations with Member States”, which will be “published shortly” and includes “the mask recommendation on flights from China, monitoring the water” used in aircraft and increasing “surveillance in testing and vaccination” of the European population.
“We want to ensure that immunity levels [of the population of EU Member States] are as high as possible,” added Tim McPhie.
The Commission spokesman added that a “discussion on the need to test [passengers] before departure” of a flight to European territory was proposed, a measure with which “most countries are in favour”.
“The European Commission is playing its role in facilitating these discussions” in order to have a “coordinated response from the European Union”, maintained Tim McPhie.
The subject was the subject of debate at a meeting of the Integrated Political Response to Crises (IPCR) Group, in which representatives of the European institutions, Member States and specialists participate, which took place on Tuesday and will continue throughout the afternoon of today. .
Change in Civil Protection Structure takes place
The change in the Civil Protection system from a district structure to a sub-regional model will take place on Wednesday 4th January 2023, after being postponed on the 1st due to bad weather, the Secretary of State for Civil Protection said today.
“The operational situation has stabilized, which was what prevented this change from being made on the 1st, as planned. It was not sensible to make a change of this size, of this sensitivity at a time when the entire system was responding to a complex emergency situation in the north and centre of the country”, Patrícia Gaspar told journalists.
The change in the Civil Protection system ends the end of the 18 district operations and rescue commands (CDOS), which will give way to 24 sub-regional commands. The end of the 18 CDOS and the creation of 24 sub-regional emergency and civil protection commands were foreseen in the organic law of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, which came into force in April 2019.
The Northern Regional Command will cover the sub-regional commands of Alto Minho, Alto Tâmega and Barroso, the Metropolitan Area of Porto, Ave, Cávado , Douro, Tâmega e Sousa and Terras de Trás-os-Montes and the Regional Command of the Center will include the sub-regional commands of Beira Baixa, Beiras and Serra da Estrela, Aveiro Region, Coimbra Region , from the region of Leiria and Viseu Dão Lafões.
In turn, the Regional Command for Lisbon and the Tagus Valley will cover the sub-regional commands for Greater Lisbon, the Lezíria do Tejo, the Middle Tagus, the West and the Setúbal Peninsula, the regional command for Alentejo will include the commands sub-regional units of Alentejo Central, Alentejo Litoral, Alto Alentejo and Baixo Alentejo and the regional command for the Algarve includes the sub-regional command for the Algarve.
The Secretary of State also stated that the population will not notice this change, with assistance continuing to be provided “in exactly the same way”.