The office of the President of the Assembly of the Republic confirmed that the committee will be formally established on Thursday, at lunchtime.
This committee, proposed by the Liberal Initiative and approved on July 11, a week before the last plenary session, will consist of 24 members: eight from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), five from Chega, five from the Socialist Party (PS), two from the Liberal Initiative (IL), two from Livre, one from the Communist Party (PCP), and one from the CDS-PP.
The presidency will be held by a member from Chega, the first vice-presidency by PSD, and the second by PS. Chega has yet to disclose who will chair this inquiry.
Per the approved text, members have 90 days to ascertain the political, technical, contractual, legal, and financial responsibilities related to the INEM, including those during the strike at the end of October and beginning of November 2024, and regarding the international public tender process for hiring emergency medical air transport services.
The legislators will also “analyze in detail the management decisions made in the preparation phase and during the strike period, with special attention to their adequacy and impact on service operations” and “scrutinize the political responsibility of the various participants in the strike, including the role of different entities in defining and meeting minimum service requirements.”
The inquiry committee will also “evaluate the relationship of different political overseers with the INEM and clarify the intervention” of all governments since 2019 in its “respective political and financial management.”
On November 4, the strikes by INEM’s pre-hospital emergency technicians on overtime and the public service resulted in delays in relief response and highlighted a lack of human resources at the institute.
Upon resumption after the parliamentary recess, the Assembly of the Republic will also establish another inquiry committee on rural fires.
Chega initiated this move mandatorily, in August, following the rural fires affecting the country this summer.
Following positions taken by PS and PSD, who rejected this inquiry, Chega, led by André Ventura, decided to force its establishment, advancing unilaterally without requiring a plenary vote.
Chega seeks an inquiry committee to evaluate “the entire process of managing the prevention and control of rural fires” from 2017 to the present and to investigate “the various businesses and economic interests allegedly thriving with the continuation of rural fires.”
The inquiry intends to “oversee the use of public funds allocated to fighting rural fires, including contracts for hiring aerial means and purchasing equipment,” “fully clarify the details of the police operation ‘Control Tower’ and investigate the potential existence of cartel or corruption schemes in the rural firefighting sector.”
This parliamentary inquiry will also assess “the strategic decisions that have led Portugal to be the only Mediterranean country without its own aerial firefighting means, despite having the largest burnt area percentage in Europe.”
The single deputies from the Left Bloc (BE) and the Juntos pelo Povo (JPP) have also proposed the establishment of an inquiry committee on the fires, which should be voted on when parliamentary work resumes.
Also regarding the fires, the parliament is voting today on the establishment of an independent technical commission, proposed by the PS, which the PSD has already agreed to.
