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Carlos Carreiras explained that due to the new regulations defined on Saturday by the Government to combat the covid-19 pandemic, one of which prohibits fairs and markets in the most affected municipalities, there are at least 200 families who are left without income, already whether they are traditional traders or food producers.
“A situation is created that can have very serious consequences” and “I think it is a minimal act of justice” that these families are not obliged to pay fees, especially because they have no activity or income, said the mayor.
In relation to the producers who usually sell food in the markets of Cascais, the Chamber will buy these foods, which will serve to reinforce the food support that the municipality already provides.
“It makes no sense that we are damaging, and wasting food, when there are so many citizens who are already experiencing difficulties in terms of food,” Carlos Carreiras told Lusa, adding that before the covid-19 pandemic the municipality already supported with food aid for 1,000 families and now supporting between 4,000 and 4,500 families, having recently launched a program to increase capacity to support 1,000 to 1,500 more families.
“We have a growing demand from citizens who have seen their income reduced or who have lost it entirely,” he justified.
Regarding the rest of marketers, who are not food products, the mayor said that he is in contact with the Government to propose “a set of solutions” for the fairs to continue, and that he hopes to be able to take place at the next fair.
Carlos Carreiras guaranteed that the solution includes all the security rules and that the Government seems sensitive to the issue. To safeguard public health, the mayor proposes, for example, that the fairs take place in places other than the usual ones, where access control and compliance with all safety regulations is allowed.
The municipality, he said, is also studying the possibility that the tax exemption is retroactive, “because there are fewer people going to markets and fairs and it has already substantially reduced the income of the families that make fairs and markets their activity.”
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed almost 1.2 million deaths and more than 46 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal, 2,544 people died from 144,341 confirmed cases of infection, according to the most recent bulletin from the Directorate General of Health.
The Council of Ministers decided on Saturday that 121 municipalities (including Cascais) will be covered, as of Wednesday, by the civic duty of home collection, new hours in establishments and mandatory telework, except for “motivated opposition” by the worker, due to covid-19.
Restaurants in these 121 counties must close by 10:30 p.m. and all commercial establishments will generally have to close by 10 p.m.
Also in these territories – which represent 70% of the resident population – fairs and lifting markets are prohibited, and events and celebrations are limited to five people, except in cases where the participants belong to the same household.
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