“We posed four questions to the Government that require responses, as it would be good to understand why the AD Government has been wasting time in forest management,” stated José Luís Carneiro in a post on the social network X.
In the first question, the Socialist Party (PS) highlighted that in the last Council of Ministers, under the leadership of António Costa, a decree for the reform of rural property in Portugal was “approved, with important measures such as limiting the timeline of indivisible inheritances or prohibiting co-ownership below the minimum unit of cultivation.”
They questioned: “What has the current Government done to implement this legislation?”
The Socialists also inquired about the number of Village Condominiums established by the AD Government, noting that the previous PS Government initiated measures “such as the creation of Village Condominiums, aiming to alter land use in areas surrounding population clusters with more fire-resilient agricultural cultivation,” adding that “800 Village Condominiums were approved and financed.”
The PS further questioned “how many Integrated Landscape Management Areas has the AD Government created to date,” emphasizing that the Socialist Government “created the concept of Integrated Landscape Management Areas, forest mosaics that compartmentalize the forest with agriculture to contain fire spread,” “established 14 such areas and secured 200 million in funding through the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan).”
The party, led by José Luís Carneiro, also asked how many Fuel Interruption Strips (FIC) were created by Luís Montenegro’s administration, pointing out that the PS Government established the FIC, “securing 70 million euros in funding through the PRR.”
The questions were released by José Luís Carneiro shortly after the conclusions of today’s Council of Ministers meeting on wildfires were disclosed, where 45 measures were approved to mitigate fire impacts.
Luís Montenegro expressed a desire to seek consensus in the Assembly of the Republic for a pact on forest management and territory protection, acknowledging that “not everything went well” in fighting the fires.
The Prime Minister announced that the government approved an intervention plan for forests from 2025 to 2050, which will now be sent to the Assembly of the Republic for “a debate on its content.”
Portugal mainland has faced numerous large-scale rural fires since July, particularly in the North and Center regions. Three people have died, and several were injured.
According to provisional official data, as of August 21, 234,000 hectares have burned in the country, over 53,000 of which were solely in the Arganil fire.
