The prime minister announced today that the Government will call for successive inspections by the Constitutional Court of the diplomas on social support, within the scope of the Covid-19 epidemic, approved by the parliament and promulgated by the President of the Republic.
This decision on this set of diplomas was announced by António Costa in a communication from São Bento, in which he claimed to be facing “a dangerous precedent” of parliamentary practice starting to “disfigure” the State budgets and in which he considered to be facing a case of “legal uncertainty that generates insecurity and undermines trust in institutions”.
“I understand that it is my duty to ask the Constitutional Court to examine the norms approved by the Assembly of the Republic that I consider unconstitutional. This is the normal exercise of my powers, within the framework of the principle of separation and interdependence of powers enshrined in the Constitution, in other words, as the President of the Republic very well summed up: It is Democracy and the Rule of Law at work", he claimed António Costa.
In his communication, António Costa pointed out four reasons to raise the request for successive inspection of these diplomas, starting by noting that “the President of the Republic sought to limit the constitutional damages of these laws by proposing an interpretation that undermines their practical effect, and even reinforces the powers of the Government”.
"By understanding - and I quote - that "the diplomas can be applied, as long as they respect the limits resulting from the current State Budget." Still, there are still unresolved issues”, considered the executive's leader.
First, according to the prime minister, "the Government cannot fail to comply with a law of the Assembly of the Republic while it is in force, even if it deems it unconstitutional and only the Constitutional Court can declare with general mandatory force the unconstitutionality of a law" .
“Secondly, beneficiary citizens have the right to know what they can count on, if on what the Assembly of the Republic has approved, if on what the Government might limit in its interpretation. Third, there is no fair way to bring these parliamentary laws back to budget limits,” he said.
Then António Costa asked a series of questions. “How would we apply this limit? Giving support to some and not to others? Giving only those quickest to ask, until the available ceiling is exhausted, and refusing all subsequent requests? By reducing the amount of support paid to everyone in violation of the law? “he asked himself.
Finally, fourthly, in the opinion of the prime minister, “it is dangerous to set a precedent that opens the door to the fear expressed by the President of the Republic that parliamentary practice will become a constant disfigurement of the State Budget”.
“Legal uncertainty generates insecurity and undermines trust in institutions,” he added.
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