Five years after the tragic fires in Pedrógão Grande, the reorganization of the top firefighting command, commissioned by the government in 2017, is still incomplete.
The new Organic Law of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) was passed in 2019, but a final diploma, an ordinance already proposed by current President Brigadier General Duarte da Costa, has been in the drawer for three years.
At a time when the fires once again marked the agenda with some allegations of lack of coordination, the strengthening the civil protection structuredetermined by the resolution of the Council of Ministers (RCM) in 2017, found outunlike the Integrated Agency for Forest Fires (AGIF) and the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), which completed their reorganization in 2018 and 2019, respectively, with some updates.
In the RCM, which was based on the report of the Independent Technical Commission (CTI), commissioned by the Assembly of the Republic, on the causes of the fires in 2017the government has committed to “take a set of solid measures that will systemic reform in forest fire prevention and control”.
Such reform, it was noted, “must be profound, in the terms proposed by the CTI, but carried out without breaks, counting on the intervention and appreciation of all the institutions that have taken care of the forest fire apparatus. professionalization and training of the system will also require the ANPC (currently ANEPC) to be permanently installed, with its own staff card and duly endowed, with stable and organized careers, as well as a consolidated and fulfilled management structure under the general law, through competition”.
It was also decided to “by the end of the first quarter of 2018, and strengthen the organic structure of the ANPC with the aim of redefining the establishment and designation criteria of its chain of command and creating a stable and organized career for the respective operational force, promoting specialized training and the development of operational skills”.
Nuclear structure yet to be installed
In fact, after two years, a new organic law was passed, but to implement it, a regulation would have to be passed establishes the entire “nuclear structure” of ANEPC and the respective competencies of the organic units, consisting of their reinforcement in qualified personnel.
“It is essential to set up a structure capable of responding to the different areas of intervention in the context of protection and emergency relief,” underlines a senior ANEPC source who is monitoring the process and regrets that this “after so much time ” continues until disorganized, with negative consequences for internal functioning”.
The non-publication of the regulation inevitably goes against the regional logic, namely the modification of the relationship model between the different levels of government, central, regional and sub-regional, as evidenced by the new organic law in force.
Another internal source emphasizes that “the failure to publish the regulation irreparably clashes with the regional logic, namely the modification of the model of the relationship between the different levels of government, central, regional and sub-regional, clearly in the new organic law in force” .
An example of this, he explains, “is the proposal to creation of a new directorate of regional coordination services for prevention and risk management responsible, in the territorial jurisdictions corresponding to the regional emergency and civil protection commands, for the organization of prevention and risk management activities, and for the implementation of the axis of protection against rural fires, in the framework of prevention”.
Not publishing it, these ANEPC sources claim, “will only” delaying all measures to be taken in the field of prevention that will have a real impact on the operational response. Instead of focusing on prevention, the government remains solely concerned with control and numbers of the burned area.”
The delay in the publication of the regulation directly hinders the conduct of the civil protection mission.
“The delay in publishing the regulation therefore has a direct interference with the pursuit of the civil defense mission,” they warn.
“While the ANEPC has made every effort to propose a regulation suitable for the challenges arising from the need for a structure capable of responding to serious accidents and disasters that are of increasing frequency, intensity and impact, to happen, The truth is that waiting three years results in a deadlock, impacting the efficiency of the services, the operational results and even demotivating the employees themselves”adds the top frame.
MAI: “no impact on operational structure”
To the best of DN’s knowledge, this reorganization has estimated cost of four million euros per yearin addition to the slightly more than 200 million euros per year in the ANEPC budget.
Asked by DN, the Cabinet of the Minister of the Interior, José Luís Carneiro – who has already found this process postponed in the drawer – the financial argument is not an obstacle.
“It is intended that the publication of the regulation will take place as soon as possible implemented at ANEPC as soon as possible,” an official source guarantees.
He recalls that “this process started in March 2020, but the change in the holder of the portfolio of the internal administration (December 2021), the planning of the parliamentary elections and the delay in completing the electoral process for the composition of the XXIIIth constitutional government (which took office only on March 30, 2022), contributed to the delay in the adoption of this ordinance project”.
The same spokesperson states that not making this diploma public”has no interference or impact on the operational structure and consequently in the operational response to rural fires” and that “due to the change in government, the ordinance project is being re-evaluated by the current holders of the government areas concerned”, including the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina.
Source: DN
