Former Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, criticized current Minister Maria Lúcia Amaral on Wednesday, highlighting her “political and operational inexperience” concerning fire management. He further stated that “prevention policies should be prioritized,” holding Prime Minister Luís Montenegro accountable for what he called “abandonment.”
Cabrita argued that the focus at this stage should not be on debate, but “on prioritizing prevention policies, which should be implemented during winter and spring.”
“In this combat phase, we are experiencing a deficit in political command, a communication strategy that was practically nonexistent during the first three weeks, and severe delays in both valuing the use of aerial means and requesting intervention from the European Civil Protection mechanism, resulting in a less qualified response,” he stated during an interview with Jornal 2 on RTP2.
When asked about the delayed activation of the European mechanism, the former minister said that “this decision should be based on a technical assessment” and “should also consider the response capability relative to the scale of the fires we face, as well as leverage the availability within the European framework.”
“Government should lead the communication strategy”
“There were unexplained situations, such as all the Canadair planes becoming inoperational. The mechanism was activated late, making us reliant on – and we should be grateful for – not European solidarity but the Moroccan solidarity, which immediately provided two heavy firefighting planes to Portugal,” he noted.
Cabrita emphasized “wrong signals being sent, such as a considerable distance.” “I’m not saying the government should be on-site at the fires, but it should lead a communication strategy, follow the operational command, and address the dual-level failure.”
“A prime minister who downplayed and was even offensive, notably during the Pontal festival day. Offensive to the sentiment of a nation witnessing the north and central areas burn unlike any time since 2017, celebrating as if nothing was happening,” he remarked.
He added: “Secondly, a demonstrated total lack of political and operational experience in this area from the Minister of Internal Administration, whom I highly respect for her abilities in other fields, but not in this one.”
Minister “holds no responsibility.” “That lies entirely with the prime minister”
When questioned about comments made by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, regarding the minister and whether it was politically justifiable, Cabrita stressed that Maria Lúcia Amaral “bears no responsibility” and that “the responsibility lies entirely with the prime minister due to neglecting fire prevention.”
The former minister of António Costa’s government pointed out that the Ministry of Agriculture “was absent for two years in the prevention strategy” and that “programs like Aldeia Segura were downgraded.”
“In 2017, it was concluded that excessive spending was on firefighting with little on prevention. Both components needed roughly 50% of the budget to be balanced. By 2020/2021, this was achieved, with actions executed throughout the year,” he stated, highlighting the involvement of António Costa (then prime minister) and the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, and National Defense.
He also emphasized, “When this issue is relegated to a summer topic only when fires occur, most of the effort is already lost, and in this aspect, the responsibility falls entirely on the prime minister.”
“Now, what the minister stated, and I think it reflects the President’s words, is that in this area, she has no experience in management. However, initiating duties two months before the highest fire-risk period is a political responsibility of the prime minister for making a choice with such limitations,” he noted.
