José Luís Carneiro spoke to journalists in Castro Marim, district of Faro, during the presentation of the party’s candidacy for the city council of this Algarve municipality, with lawyer Ricardo Cipriano, the current vice-president of the neighboring Vila Real de Santo António council, as the first candidate.
The leader of the Socialist Party (PS) expressed his “solidarity with the firefighters and all the elements that integrate the Civil Protection” and highlighted the “heroic action [with which] they have been fighting fires throughout the week, saving people’s lives, saving and safeguarding their assets and heritage.”
“To all of them, a word of thanks. […] Secondly, I believe that declaring the State of Alert is a good decision. The Government listened to the words of the Socialist Party and it seemed appropriate to me,” stated the party leader.
José Luís Carneiro agreed with the declaration made by the Minister of Internal Administration to decree the State of Alert from Sunday to Thursday, but considered that the Government should also “have taken a step further, particularly in relation to dialogue with European partners within the framework of the European Civil Protection mechanism.”
“It would be good to have the European Union’s aerial support mechanisms pre-positioned so that, depending on the meteorological context, we can mobilize these means more quickly to get them where they are needed,” said the former Minister of Internal Administration.
The PS secretary-general considered that the declaration of the State of Alert for the period in which Portugal will be affected by a heatwave with temperatures that may exceed 40 degrees was “appropriate and adjusted.”
“I myself, as you well know, […] made three recommendations to the Government. The Government listened to those recommendations, advanced with the State of Alert. From my point of view, it would be desirable to advance dialogue with our European partners to pre-position the means, because between the request and the pre-positioning of means it takes quite a long set of hours, and in emergency circumstances, it is very important to have those means pre-positioned,” he argued.
José Luís Carneiro traveled to the Algarve to participate in the presentation of Ricardo Cipriano’s candidacy to the Castro Marim municipality, where the PS has, according to the party leader, “the highest expectations to win” in the next local elections.
“Ricardo is a young man with a lot of talent, with many human, civic, and professional qualities. We have here a path already cemented in development proposals, and it should be clear that this border region, where we have placed much of our vision of territorial cohesion,” said the party leader.
The PS secretary-general argued the need to “assume a territorial development contract with this region to guarantee investment, create job opportunities,” and retain young people.
“We must provide living conditions to those who live far from major urban centers, and the best way to do this is through territorial development contracts to retain young people, attract company investments, create an economy, and with that create new life opportunities for those living in these territories, particularly those bordering Spain and between the coast and the interior,” he proposed.
