The PSD asked the government this Monday why “the pre-appointment requirement” is being maintained for personal attendance at government departments that was only legally justified during the pandemic period, as the continuation of these rules was unjustified.
In a request addressed to the Minister of the Presidency, the Social Democratic deputies refer that “several reports from government departments have reached the court upholding the requirement of prior and compulsory planning for the provision of services to the citizen”.
“So there is an extension, in times of normality, of exceptional service rules that were in place during the covid-19 period and were legally justified under the state of emergency,” they add.
For the PSD, “this situation is an affront to the rights and interests of citizens, especially the most unprotected – those who do not have access to information technology, those who are inland, who are further away from services – and promotes image from a distant, opaque government administration and inaccessible”.
“This is not the public administration that serves the public interest and that its employees and users want for the country, and civil society has already manifested itself against this reality,” they criticize.
The PSD recalls that the state of emergency already ended on April 30, 2021 and the state of alert that followed on September 30, as “the continuation of these restrictions is completely unjustified”.
For these reasons, the PSD faction asks the government for clarification on “what are the rules of public service currently in force in the services of the public administration”.
“What is the justification for maintaining, in times of normalcy, the requirement of prior appointment for the purpose of personal assistance, which was legally justified by the exception of the pandemic period of the covid-19 disease?” she asks also.
Last week, the ProPública association accused the public administration of “illegal and illegitimate” practices by favoring face-to-face services by appointment, despite the fact that restrictions imposed by the pandemic had already been lifted.
In the complaint filed on Wednesday with the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Ombudsman, to which Lusa had access, the Associação ProPública — Direito e Cidadania believes that a “use” of the exceptional response period is underway to COVID-19.
It is about “the almost universal requirement of advance planning, by telephone or electronically, for a citizen to be received at a government agency”.
In view of this, ProPública has called on the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Ombudsman to end – “immediately and expeditiously” – a practice it considers “unfair, illegal and unconstitutional”. the north of public administration” (for this they quote Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa himself, in his work on administrative law).
Source: DN
