The President of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira defends the need for explanations from the Regional Government in Parliament about the fires.
The statement by José Manuel Rodrigues was made this afternoon and confirms a position that diverges from what has been the official speech of the President of Madeira and the Regional Secretary of Health and Civil Protection.
Yesterday, José Manuel Rodrigues visited Curral das Freiras very early, as President of the Assembly, and defended the reinforcement of means to fight fires. He had taken the same attitude the day before as president of the CDS.
Today, Rodrigues was clearer: “I think that the Government is willing and should, mandatorily, go to Parliament and clarify what actually happened and when.”
The President of the Assembly recognises the work done in recent years, in terms of firebreaks and other measures to mitigate the effect of fires, but admits that “eventually, we could have done more.”
Concluding, he said that the Regional Government must explain its actions, in terms of what it did right and what it did wrong concerning the handling of the fires.”
Reinforcements from the Azores and the mainland have arrived to provide mush needed assistance. Other reports state that the President of Madeira’s visit to certain parishes did not go down particularly well, with some saying that he was ‘booed.’
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
