Parliamentary commission of inquiry into INEM management takes office on Thursday

The parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate the political and management responsibilities of the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM) in recent years, proposed by IL, takes office on Thursday and will be chaired by Chega.

The office of the President of the Assembly of the Republic confirmed to Lusa that the commission will take office on Thursday, at lunchtime.

This committee, proposed by IL and approved on July 11, a week before the last plenary meeting, will be made up of 24 deputies: eight from the PSD, five from Chega and another five from the PS, two from IL and two from Livre, one from the PCP and another from the CDS-PP.

The committee will be chaired by a member of Chega, the first vice-chair by the PSD, and the second by the PS. Also questioned by Lusa, Chega has not yet revealed who will chair the inquiry.

According to the approved text, deputies have 90 days to determine the political, technical, contractual, legal and financial responsibilities related to INEM, including during the strike at the end of October and beginning of November 2024, as well as those related to the international public tender process for contracting emergency medical air transport.

The deputies will also "analyze, in detail, the management decisions taken in the preparation phase and during the strike period, with special attention to their respective adequacy and impact on the functioning of the service" and "scrutinize the political responsibility of the various participants in the strike, including the role of the different entities in defining and complying with minimum services."

The commission of inquiry will also "evaluate the relationship between the different political authorities and INEM and clarify the intervention" of all governments since 2019 in "their respective political and financial management."

On November 4, strikes by INEM pre-hospital emergency technicians and civil servants due to overtime resulted in delays in the emergency response and highlighted the lack of human resources at the institute.

When work resumes after the parliamentary recess, the Assembly of the Republic will also set up another commission of inquiry into rural fires.

Chega launched this mandatory initiative in August, following the rural fires that have affected the country this summer.

Following the positions expressed by the PS and PSD, which rejected this inquiry, the party led by André Ventura decided to force its formation, advancing potestatively, without the need for the proposal to be voted on in plenary.

Chega wants a commission of inquiry to evaluate "the entire management process for preventing and combating rural fires" from 2017 until now and to investigate "the various businesses and economic interests that allegedly thrive on the perpetuation of rural fires."

The commission of inquiry aims to "monitor the use of public funds earmarked for fighting rural fires, particularly contracts for the rental of aircraft and the acquisition of equipment," "fully clarify the scope of the "Control Tower" police operation, and investigate the existence of possible cartelization or corruption schemes in the rural firefighting sector."

This parliamentary inquiry will also assess "the strategic decisions that led Portugal to be the only Mediterranean country without its own aerial resources for fighting fires, despite being the European country with the largest percentage of burned area."

The sole deputies of the Left Bloc and the JPP also proposed the creation of a commission of inquiry into the fires, which should be voted on when parliamentary work resumes.

Still on the subject of fires, Parliament will vote today with an independent technical committee, proposed by the Socialist Party, to which the Social Democratic Party has already announced its agreement.