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The Social Partners’ Commitment to economic recovery “was the first step to achieve the common effort of economic recovery,” said Prime Minister António Costa at the signing ceremony in Lisbon.

“This is only a first step, because the crisis created by Covid-19 left deep wounds in our economic and social fabric”, deeply changing the situation of the month of February, when, he recalled, there was acceleration of the economy, historical levels of low unemployment, convergence with the European Union and consolidation of public finances.

António Costa insisted that “the key to resuming activity is called trust: trust regarding security in establishments, in travel, at work”.

“This is why this commitment” between the social partners and the government “that we will resume economic activity in accordance with the best standards defined by the DGS, based on the best scientific knowledge we have, in the best way to protect ourselves from the virus”, he said.

 

Joining forces to regain employment

The Prime Minister said that “recovery of employment is the next priority, and for that we need to join forces for a recovery as quickly and safely as possible”.

But “we cannot do it alone”, without the European Union, “because this recovery requires more capital in companies, more public investment, more effort in vocational training, more social support measures”.

Another reason why Portugal cannot recover on its own is that its economy “is now much more internationalised” – in February exports represented 44% of GDP, and tourism is substantially dependent on abroad.

António Costa said that “our main clients are Spain and Germany, and if their economy is bad, ours can’t be good. We need Europe to help all European economies to get back on track so that ours, and all of them, can get back on track”.

 

Balance between pandemic and economy

The Prime Minister said that “to revive the economy without letting the pandemic get out of hand is the balancing game that we have to maintain, so that we do not die to the disease or the cure, but that with the cure we save ourselves from the disease, saving income, employment and businesses, without which there is neither”.

“This global commitment has different declinations for each sector of activity,” he said, referring to the reopening of smaller establishments, commercial, hairdressers and barbers, opticians and automobiles, and “the agreement between the DGS and AHRESP, based on the DGS standards and a voluminous code of good practice that AHRESP has developed,” for the reopening of restaurants and the like, which was also signed today.

António Costa said that although it is not possible “to resume the activity without constraints that generate inconvenience”, “living with the virus implies living with many limitations, which are fundamental for the citizen to gain confidence to go to the hairdresser or barber, to the commercial establishment, to work”, so “that the economic chain can be re-established”.

“If we can’t re-establish confidence, then the problem is no longer just public health, but the subsistence of family income, because companies that don’t sell, don’t employ and, if there is no employment, there is no income,” he said.

So what the government did initially, as far as possible, was “to freeze the companies so as not to let them die, the employment so as to let it exist, and the income so as to avoid the biggest fall”, through measures to support their survival.

 

Support to business

The Prime Minister said that “these measures are having an effect on the economic fabric. Of the credit lines, we have already approved guarantees – which is the state’s share – worth more than EUR 5 billion”.

However, “State guarantees mean guarantees of taxpayers’ money, and loans are not money distributed, they are money contracted”.

“Banks are the vehicles for transmitting that money to the economy, and we want them to be demanding because it is about making viable companies that are in crisis because they have been hit by the virus, but that are viable; it is not about feeding companies that are not economically viable, so that taxpayers don’t have to pay for these loans afterwards,” he said.

By handing over the decision to the banks the government is also ensuring transparency, as it should not be “the government that decides which company it supports or not”, he said.

The Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro Siza Vieira, and the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, were also participating in the ceremony.

The airline Ryanair is re-evaluating its operation in Portugal, admitting to moving forward with redundancies and with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We announced a few weeks ago that we would have to reduce about 3,000 jobs of around about 15 to 16 thousand employees and some of them will probably be in Portugal, depending on the number of aircraft we have there [to operate]”, he says in an interview to Lusa agency the executive president of Ryanair, Eddie Wilson today.

On the day that the low-cost airline announces the resumption of its operations next July, after more than three months with the planes stopped due to the restrictions implemented by European countries to contain the covid-19 outbreak, the official stresses that the Ryanair is now “reevaluating its operations and talking to the unions” in Portugal.

“Our goal is to have agreements or a decision made soon,” says Eddie Wilson to Lusa, specifying that this decision will be released “in the coming weeks”.

Even so, according to the official, it is already certain that “what will determine this number [of dismissals] will be the total of aircraft based in Portugal”.

“For each aircraft that is removed, about 10 pilot jobs and approximately 20 jobs in the cabin crew are cut,” he explained.

Asked about which Portuguese bases will be most affected, Eddie Wilson indicates that the air carrier based in Dublin, Ireland, is “looking at everything”.

“We have a substantial operation in Porto, a relatively small operation in Ponta Delgada, we have resized the operation in Faro, and we operate in Lisbon”, she says, without elaborating.

Ryanair announced on April 1 of a simplified lay-off in Portugal , considering the use of the measure as indispensable for the preservation of jobs in the country, according to information transmitted at the time to the unions.

And that will happen as of July 1, as announced today by the carrier, indicating yet that the resumption is subject to lifting the travel restrictions applied to flights within the community.

“What will happen here is that we will have a lower demand and that is why we only resume with 40% of our capacity , which means we have fewer planes and fewer frequencies […] and, in these situations, we have to consider redundancies and cost cuts “, Eddie Wilson told Lusa.

Since the beginning of the travel limits, applied in mid-March, Ryanair has only made about 30 flights a day between Ireland, the United Kingdom and Europe..

 

 

 

The director-general of Health said today that it is impossible to impose rules of behavior on young children, arguing that it is up to adults to “do everything” to minimize the risk of contagion when they are playing and socializing.

Nurseries are “a place to play” and children are “very small and therefore it is not possible” to impose rules on their behavior, said Graça Freitas at the daily press conference on the evolution of the covid-19 pandemic in Portugal

However, he stressed, “we must do everything, but everything, that adults and space allow to minimize the risk of their games”.

Graça Freitas gave several examples of how to do this, such as “deploying classes, keeping as few children as possible inside a room”.

“It does not guarantee that they will not come together”, but it does allow for the creation of “a kind of widened social distance”.

On the other hand, he pointed out, “we know that they can’t help but join in, but they can leave their shoes at the door” and at bedtime their mattresses must be at a safe distance so as not to pass “droplets to your colleague on the side ”while they sleep.

It is also possible to ask that each boy have his own mattress and that “the meals that are taken also have spacing between the rooms, that are not all at the same time and that have separate circuits”, exemplified Graça Freitas.

“What we adults can do is not prevent the world of boys, but give the world of boys the greatest possible security and that is in the hands of adults, separating tables, rooms, dedicating the material as much as possible to a child , arranging their own circuits ”, he stressed.

For this reason, he defended, “it is so important that daycare centers organize themselves according to their space, the number of students to create this circuit”.

“Now, obviously, we are not going to prevent the normal development of boys, nor their games, nor their interactions, because that is impossible, we are going to do everything to minimize crossings between people, between boys, and on the other hand, protect adults who accompany them ”, reiterated the Director-General of Health.

As boys cannot use a mask, “adults will have to do it, obviously, always to minimize the likelihood of contagion from an adult to a child”, he further exemplified.

Graça Freitas stressed that the rules that were presented a few days ago in a public session were only yet to be discussed, to hear opinions from associations of parents and other sectors of activity.

“We have to think about boys who have their own characteristics and the right to their development and play and adults have to create rules that minimize the crossing between certain objects, equipment and then the crossing between many children at the same time,” he concluded.

The Association of Childhood Education Professionals (APEI) has already expressed “deep concern” about the conditions for reopening daycare centers within a week and says that the recommendations for this opening are “deeply inadequate”.

Professional education students will take regional exams at the institution closest to their area of ​​residence and with the result they can apply to all universities and polytechnics that open places for special competitions.

According to today’s newspaper Público, students completing vocational education, for whom a new way of accessing higher education was created starting this year, will experience a model that is new in Portugal: regional exams , scheduled for September.

The newspaper said, with information provided by the chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Higher Polytechnic Institutes (CCISP), Pedro Dominguinhos, that three consortia, in the north, center and south of the country, will do specific tests to rank candidates.

The initiative is from the polytechnic institutes, but there are universities that will also integrate them.

Each student will take only one entrance exam, at the institution closest to their area of ​​residence and with that result, they can apply to all universities and polytechnics in the region that open vacancies for these special competitions.

The possibility of a single exam will be on the table next school year.

For the moment, two consortia are formalized. One in the North – which includes the polytechnics of Bragança, Porto, Cávado and Ave and Viana do Castelo – and another in the South, with the polytechnics of Setúbal, Santarém, Portalegre and Beja, as well as the Higher School of Hospitality and Tourism of Estoril and the Infante D. Henrique Nautical School, in Oeiras. This network is also part of the University of Algarve, which has polytechnic education.

The third consortium, in the Centro region, involving polytechnics such as Coimbra and Leiria, is not yet completed, according to Pedro Dominguinhos.

The University of Aveiro, which also has polytechnic education, can also join the consortium. Universities are lagging behind.

“The special competition for professional education graduates – which also covers those who have taken artistic or apprenticeship courses – allows each student to apply for three different higher education courses, which, according to the rules approved in April by the Government, it could force them to do more than one entrance exam, ”the newspaper said.

If a student applied for degrees from different institutions, he would have to take three separate specific tests.

Speaking to the public, the president of the CCISP said that “it makes little sense for students to be taking tests in all the institutions they want to run for”.

The next academic year in higher education begins in the first weeks of October, after changes in the calendar due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Institutions have until May 18 to approve their internal regulations and define the access formula to use and tell the Government whether or not they want to open these special competitions in the next school year.

GNR started at 09:00 today the operation “Fátima at home”, which will continue until Wednesday, with the objective of preventing pilgrims from accessing the sanctuary, said the Operations director, Vítor Rodrigues, to the Lusa agency.

This GNR operation – carried out in connection with the International Anniversary Pilgrimage of May (12th and 13th) and taking into account the covid-19 pandemic – will have a national and a local level.

According to Vítor Rodrigues, at the national level, the operation will involve “monitoring, sensitizing and deterring possible movements, whether on foot or in a vehicle”, involving all commands, from North to South of the country.

“At the local level, with the territorial command of Santarém, we are going to effectively monitor, control, the entry of vehicles in Fátima”, he explained.

The Director of Operations at GNR said that, when accessing the highway, “all vehicles will be controlled, a bit similar to what was done at Easter and in those moments when you could not walk from one municipality to another”.

When people are detected who go to Fátima with the intention of going to the sanctuary, they will be dissuaded from doing so, “because the parks are all closed, so the possibilities of going to the sanctuary do not exist”.

The official welcomed the “fantastic collaborative posture” of the members of the Catholic Church, with whom the GNR has been working “for many weeks”.

“I want to believe that, as has been happening in this country, the overwhelming majority of people follow the orders of the security forces and services. In Fatima, for a lot of reason, this will happen ”, he stressed.

This year, the Shrine of Fatima will celebrate the International Anniversary Pilgrimage of May in the prayer hall, as in other years, but without the crowd of pilgrims that usually fill it.

The celebrations will take place in the enclosure, but this will be closed due to the sanitary rules defined by the Government in the context of the declaration of the State of public calamity, in articulation with the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, and which prevent religious celebrations with the presence of the faithful.

Between the afternoon of the 12th and the end of the morning of the 13th, pilgrims will not be allowed access to any area of ​​the sanctuary.

The rector of the Sanctuary of Fátima, Carlos Cabecinhas, asked the pilgrims not to visit the precinct on the 12th and 13th and to make the pilgrimage “by heart”.

 

 

When restaurants and cafes reopen this month, they should favour the use of terraces and the ‘take away’ service and should encourage prior scheduling, according to guidance from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) released today.

In the guidance, the DGS establishes the various measures that food and beverage establishments must adopt when they reopen on May 18.

Among the measures to be adopted, the health authority highlights the reduction of the maximum capacity of the establishment, in order to ensure the recommended physical distance of two meters between people, privileging the use of outdoor areas, such as terraces (whenever possible) and the take-away service.

According to DGS, “the arrangement of tables and chairs must guarantee a distance of at least two meters between people, but cohabitants can sit facing each other or side by side, at a lower distance”.

Companies must prevent customers from changing the orientation of tables and chairs, allowing employees to do so, but always ensuring the necessary distance.

DGS also recommends that, whenever possible and applicable, prior booking for seats be promoted and encouraged.

On the other hand, standing spaces are not recommended, as are ‘self-service’ operations such as ‘buffets’.

The cleaning and disinfection of spaces must respect the guidelines previously issued by DGS, and owners must disinfect, at least six times a day, all areas of frequent contact (door handles, washbasin taps, tables, benches, chairs, handrails).

The same must be done with “critical equipment (such as automatic payment terminals and individual menus”) after each use.

The guidance also establishes the need for hand hygiene with alcohol-based solution or soap and water at the entrance and exit of the establishment by customers, who must respect the distance between people of at least two meters and comply with the respiratory label measures.

Customers should also consider wearing a mask, except during the meal period, avoid touching unnecessary surfaces and objects and give preference to electronic payment.

The document also establishes the procedures to be adopted by the employees of the catering and beverage establishments, namely the use of a mask during the period of work with multiple people.

DGS recalls that “the catering and beverage establishments, due to their characteristics, can be places of transmission of infection by SARS-CoV-2, either by direct and / or indirect contact”.

For this reason, he argues, additional measures “must be taken to ensure that the transmission of the disease is minimized in these contexts”.

Lisbon, 06^th  May 2020 (Lusa) – The Prime Minister announced today the extension of support to Managing Partners with dependent workers, an increase in the guarantee period for access to unemployment social benefits and support for independent workers without any claims in the last year.

These measures were announced by António Costa at the end of a visit to the Social Security Institute, in Lisbon, justifying them by the “abrupt” change in the country’s reality, following the Covid-19 pandemic.

During a visit, accompanied by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, António Costa said that the Government had previously supported situations in which Managing Partners, particularly micro-companies, had support in reduced activity, without staff.

“This week we are going to take it a step further, extending it also to Managing Partners of micro-companies with employees.”, declared the prime minister.

The second step that the Government is going to take, according to António Costa, relates to the guarantee period for access to unemployment benefit for people in probationary situations and for cases where contracts have been terminated.

“The probationary period was taken into account for ‘normal’ circumstances, but that is not the case today, because, as we have seen, in one month, everything has changed. We cannot neglect to support these workers.” he claimed.

The third measure, continued António Costa, will be given in relation to the group of independent workers – workers who enjoyed the alternative of not making contributions to Social Security.

“Anyone who has not fulfilled the alternative [of claiming of Social Security benefits] is not currently protected. We are going to take the step of allowing protection for independent workers who, in the last 12 months, did not make any contributions. Naturally, they will not be able to receive the same benefits as those who made contributions over those last 12 months “, the Prime Minister immediately warned.

In his speech, the prime minister said that the executive, over the course of this week, “will take another step” in relation to the public social security system.

The idea, according to António Costa, “is to open the door to all those who, for various reasons, either through choice or as a result of existing deregulations in the labour market,” have been working in deregulated circumstances “.

“This is the time for these citizens to put an end to deregularity and formalise their participation in the Social Security system. Come to Social Security, we are here to welcome you and offer you support. We don’t want to leave anyone behind during this crisis”, stressed the Prime Minister.

This widening of Social Security to informal workers had already been mentioned by Minister Ana Mendes Godinho in her brief speech at this opening of this session.

 

The land borders between Portugal and Spain will remain closed after May 14, the Minister of Internal Affairs announced today, without putting forward a date for the reopening.

In the parliamentary committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, where he was heard this afternoon, Eduardo Cabrita said that the control of land borders will be extended “beyond May 14”.

“May 14, certainly not [reopening of borders]. I do not anticipate any date, ”said the minister, stressing that he is“ dependent on the success ”of Portugal and Spain in the fight against the covid-19.

The control of land borders with Spain is being carried out since 23:00 on March 16 at nine authorized crossing points due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The operating border points are Valença-Tuy, Vila Verde da Raia-Verín, Quintanilha-San Vitero, Vilar Formoso-Fuentes de Oñoro, Monfortinho-Cilleros Thermal Springs, Marvão-Valencia de Alcântara, Caia-Badajoz, Vila Verde de Ficalho -Rosal de la Frontera and Vila Real de Santo António-Ayamonte.

Within the scope of border control, tourist and leisure travel between the two countries is prevented, with only the transport of goods and cross-border workers being allowed.

To the deputies, the Minister of Internal Administration maintained that “the lifting of borders must be done with great prudence” and “it will be done in absolute dialogue with the Spanish authorities”.

Portugal has been in a calamity situation since Sunday due to the covid-19 pandemic, after 45 days in a state of emergency, which ran from 19 March to 2 May.

Asked by PAN deputy Inês Sousa Real about the role of security forces and services in the calamity situation, Eduardo Cabrita underlined that “it will be guided by the same principles” of the state of emergency, but “adapted to circumstances that are different”.

According to the minister, the police will give priority to the safe use of public transport, the reopening of commercial spaces and public services.

“The circulation issues will continue to exist naturally, but they will be less visible situations in the context of allocating available resources”, he said.

Decree law here https://dre.pt/web/guest/pesquisa/-/search/130326108/details/maximized

 

 

“It is essential to protect ourselves and others. It is essential that everyone wear masks and we must all be responsible to ourselves and others, “said the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, referring to the use of this protective equipment, which becomes mandatory in public transport.

During a visit to the Infrastructure Security Center of Portugal, in Lisbon, the Minister referred that in some trains in the metropolitan areas of Porto and Lisbon, the control of the capacity “is very difficult”, because “the infrastructure capacity at peak hours is full”.

“There is a dimension of individual responsibility that we want people to incorporate and realize that it is up to you, too, to ensure that the train is not overcrowded, that they do not enter a train that is already very full and that they always wear the mask, not only inside the train , but also inside the station”, he said.

On the first day of the plan defined by the Government for the progressive reopening of services and commerce, Pedro Nuno Santos said that “the entire offer was restored to 100%” and “signalling at all stations” was placed. The Minister also said that the trains “still have a good capacity, which allows distance, and the overwhelming majority of people are wearing a mask”.

Pedro Nuno Santos also said that security forces are at various stations to alert and recommend the use of a mask, adding that “in the coming days the pressure on public transport, and trains in particular, may increase and the security forces will enforce the law”.

The Minister also acknowledged that there are difficulties in reinforcing the offer of trains on some lines, as is the case with the Sintra and Cascais lines, so he appealed to the responsibility of each user to avoid getting on already full trains, thus helping to fulfill the maximum capacity. two-thirds defined by the authorities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rector of the Fátima Sanctuary, Carlos Cabecinhas, today asked pilgrims not to visit the enclosure on the 12th and 13th and to make the pilgrimage “by heart”, due to the pandemic of Covid-19.

In a message addressed to pilgrims regarding the International Anniversary Pilgrimage of May, Carlos Cabecinhas mentions that, for the first time in its history, the Shrine of Fátima will celebrate this date without pilgrims in its spaces.

“This is a painful moment: the sanctuary exists to welcome pilgrims and we are unable to do so is a reason for great sadness; but this decision is also an act of responsibility towards the pilgrims, defending their health and well-being”, he considers.

To those who intended to visit the sanctuary this year, the priest asks that he make this pilgrimage “by heart” and follow the transmission of the celebrations through the media, the internet and social networks.

The celebrations will take place in the enclosure, but this will be closed due to the sanitary rules defined by the Government in the context of the declaration of the State of public calamity, in articulation with the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, and which prevent religious celebrations with the presence of the faithful.

In view of this impossibility of traveling to Cova da Iria, the rector challenges pilgrims to make a spiritual path, presenting them with a concrete proposal for prayer for each day.

“We cannot count on your physical presence, but we would like to be able to count on you. Because it is not only a pilgrimage with the feet, but also with the heart, we propose you to make a pilgrimage through the heart”, he underlines.

The proposal goes through a “pilgrimage in stages”, between today and the 13th, in which “the path is not physical, but interior”, with pilgrims being challenged to light, every day, in the windows of their houses, a candle, what is considered “one of the most iconic acts of Fatima”.

“May each day have a moment of reflection and prayer, according to the proposals that we will make available; and that, each night, light a candle at the window, until the candle procession of the 12th. , a beautiful procession of candles, spread throughout all the places where you live and meet ”, he appeals.

Between the afternoon of the 12th and the end of the morning of the 13th, pilgrims will not be allowed access to any area of ​​the sanctuary.

“Making this painful decision now means trying to create conditions so that we can resume pilgrimages to this place as soon as possible”, stresses Carlos Cabecinhas.

The rector takes the opportunity to greet the various groups of pilgrims who had to cancel the pilgrimage to Fatima this May, which are about three and a half hundred, from all over the world.

Celebrations with the physical presence of pilgrims in Cova da Iria and in all Portuguese churches will not resume until the 30th.

Until then, the sanctuary will resume its activity, reopening, as of today, the places of worship, for visit and prayer, but without community celebrations and without the physical presence of pilgrims.

The rectory building will also resume its activity, as will the commercial units. The museum spaces are open to the public from the 19th.

In order to make the sanctuary spaces accessible, the institution adopted measures for both employees and pilgrims, such as wearing a mask in closed spaces, frequent hand washing, maintaining physical distance and monitoring access to spaces. closed (basilicas, chapels and commercial spaces).