The parliamentary assessment of the decree-law with which the Government created a regime of social support and simplified lay-off for the areas affected by the storm Kristin was sent to the Parliamentary Committee on Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, where the armistice will be maintained between the parties that support the Government and those in the opposition, who demand that workers have the right to 100% of their salary, as was initially communicated by the Ministry of Labor. This was determined at the end of a parliamentary debate marked by divergences in rhetoric that were not always translated into votes.
The abstention of PS deputies guaranteed that all bills presented by the Left Bloc to guarantee additional support for storm victims were rejected, unlike what happened with the PAN bill that creates an exceptional financial support regime for animal protection entities affected by extreme weather events, which only had votes against from the PSD and CDS, and the abstention of the Liberal Initiative.
At the end of a debate with the agenda set by the Left Bloc, and led by its sole deputy, Fabian Figueiredo, successive votes had the coincidence that the votes against the AD parliamentary groups, which were sometimes joined by liberal deputies, prevailed due to the abstention of the PSwith Chega voting alongside the leftmost benches.
The blockade bills aimed at an extraordinary bonus for operatives mobilized in response to the storms, exemption from paying Municipal Property Tax on homes seriously affected by the storms, a regime for compensation for damages due to death and permanent disability, exceptional measures to protect the right to housing and commercial establishments and industry in the affected municipalities and exceptional measures of support and social protection in the same municipalities were rejected. And both Chega and PS also joined the PSD and CDS in rejecting a draft resolution from the Left Bloc that aimed to monitor prices of essential goods in the affected areas.
For the PS, it was a victory for the approval of the draft resolution that recommends to the Government the monthly and detailed disclosure of the budget execution of extraordinary measures adopted following the storms and floods that occurred due to the “storm train” that hit Portugal at the beginning of this year. This text did not reach unanimity due to the abstention of the social democratic bench.
Also failed was the PCP bill that provided for an intervention plan to respond to the needs of the population following the impact of the storms, with votes against from the PSD, CDS and Liberal Initiative, as well as abstentions from Chega, PS and PAN. And Chega’s bill, which provided for an exceptional and automatic exemption from the Municipal Property Tax for 2026 in municipalities declared in a situation of calamity, with votes against by the PSD, PS and CDS, abstentions by Livre and PCP, and with the Bloco de Esquerda, PAN and JPP joining the proponents. And also the draft resolution of the Liberal Initiative that intended to transfer the costs of justified absences of workers caused by calamities to Social Security, which only received favorable votes from the liberals, Chega and JPP.
Another PAN bill was sent to the specialty without a vote, on the creation of a national plan for search, rescue and animal assistance, integrated into the response to disasters. And there was also approval of a draft CDS resolution for the Government to adopt additional measures to support farmers who suffered the impact of the storm Kristin (unanimously)a draft resolution from Juntos pelo Povo that recommends the creation of the National Fund to Fight Natural Catastrophes (despite the votes against from the AD parties), one from the PSD that recommends that the Government monitor on the ground and assess the damage and another from Livre that recovers school infrastructures and students’ learning in the affected areas.
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