Asked about what resources would be available to fight next summer’s fires the PM said “the regulatory and judicial authorities may not act in time to bring down the cartels that want to capture the state, (…) but the state will not be captured and we will have the resources at any cost because it is not possible or acceptable that someone wants to transform people’s security into a state threat", he said.

António Costa said his government had taken measures to ensure that all equipment would be prepared shortly to fight forest fires.

Questioned about whether the government was finding any resistance in the process to acquire aircraft, the prime minister said “it is quite clear that there is a concerted action by companies to speculate at the cost of the risk of fires".

But he also left a message to the companies in question, saying “If they think they can capture the state they are very mistaken because the state is going to have the resources it need with or without them.