LUSA.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, will receive this Monday the Prime Minister, who will transmit the Government’s position on a possible state of emergency, and then the nine parties with parliamentary seats.
Costa explained at the entrance to the meeting that he will present the proposal to declare the State of Emergency with a “preventive” nature to eliminate legal doubts “in four dimensions”, which he explained:
The first aspect concerns the “possibility of imposing, between different areas of territory”, on certain days and limited conditions, displacements (he spoke of a “legal strengthening”)
The second aspect referred concerns “the legitimacy to impose temperature control measures, either for access to workplaces and public places”, said the Prime Minister. Measures are also envisaged so that the State “can use resources and resources from the private and social sector” to combat the pandemic.
Finally, the fourth “dimension” mentioned by Costa, which will include changes to this “preventive emergency state”, concerns the mobilization of “human resources, such as the Armed Forces, civil servants, teachers, and others who, not being infected” , and able to work, being at home because they are part of risk groups, “can be used to reinforce the extraordinary effort of public health, general and family medicine teams”, in tracking positive cases and risk contacts “, as well as in monitoring people who are in a situation of confinement “.
According to what the CM found, the Prime Minister will ask the President of the Republic for a new state of emergency. António Costa wants to apply more restrictive measures in municipalities with more than 240 infected with covid-19 per 100 thousand inhabitants. According to the CM, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will not oppose this measure. The government needs a state of emergency in order to proceed with the curfew.
It will also give legal certainty to restrictions such as the ban on movement between municipalities. After this meeting, the President of the Republic will receive the remaining parties with seats in parliament. The state of emergency will be the focus of discussions.
António Costa will be received by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at 10:30 am, after a short ceremony in honor of the dead, especially the victims of the covid-19, next to the Palace of Belém, in Lisbon, on a day of national mourning, in which they will participate the head of state, the prime minister and the president of the Assembly of the Republic, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues.
Party hearings are scheduled between 11:00 and 17:30, in ascending order of parliamentary representation: Liberal Initiative, Chega, PEV, PAN, CDS-PP, PCP, BE, PSD – by videoconference – and PS.
On Saturday, António Costa announced that he had asked the President of the Republic for a hearing to convey the Government’s position on a possible declaration of the state of emergency applicable to municipalities with more than 240 infected with the new coronavirus per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days.
In a press conference, at the end of an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers, at the National Palace of Ajuda, in Lisbon, António Costa added that he would only disclose the Government’s position on this matter after revealing it to the President of the Republic.
Asked about a possible curfew, the Prime Minister replied that “this measure could never be adopted with the constitutional powers that the Government has”.
For the time being, at the meeting on Saturday, the Government decided, under the Basic Law for Civil Protection, to renew the calamity situation in the entire continental territory, from 00:00 hours of next Wednesday until 23:59 of 15 November, and apply special measures in 121 counties that have more than 240 cases of infection per 100 thousand inhabitants in the last 14 days, including a “duty to remain at home”, mandatory teleworking, and closing of the trade until 22:00 and restaurants until 10:30 pm.
Before announcing these measures, the prime minister heard the nine parties with parliamentary seats on Friday.
The PAN revealed that the Government put on the table the hypothesis of general confinement in the first half of December to preserve the Christmas period, which requires a state of emergency.
The prime minister confirmed on Saturday that this had been discussed with the parties, but added that “there was a widespread opinion that it was absolutely premature” to be “now thinking about what to do in December”.
On Thursday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa did not exclude a possible return to the state of emergency “on the proposal of another sovereign body”, saying that the next steps in the fight against the covid-19 would also depend on the parties.
The state of emergency was in force in Portugal at the beginning of this epidemic, between 19 March and 2 May.
According to the Constitution, the declaration of a state of emergency can determine the suspension of some of the rights, freedoms and guarantees, for a maximum period of 15 days, without prejudice to any renewals with the same time limit.
Its declaration in all or in part of the national territory is a competence of the President of the Republic, but depends on the hearing of the Government and authorization by the Assembly of the Republic.
In Portugal, the first cases of infection with the new coronavirus were detected on March 2 and 2,544 people have died so far, with a total of 144,341 cases of infection accounted for, according to the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) ).
