The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is expected to formalize his resignation from the government this evening, which will be limited to management actions, as he indicated to journalists on Saturday.
This formalization will take place a month after the Prime Minister, António Costa, offered his resignation on November 7 to the President of the Republic, who immediately accepted it and subsequently decided to dissolve Parliament and schedule early parliamentary elections on March 10. .
Earlier this afternoon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and António Costa will be together at the presentation session of a revised and expanded edition of the book “Portugal Amordaçado — Depoimento sobre os anos do fascism”, by Mário Soares, at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, in Lisbon, on the day when the former President of the Republic would have turned 99 years old.
The resignation of the government “as a result of the acceptance of the resignation offered by the Prime Minister” is made official by decree signed by the President of the Republic and published in the Official Gazette.
The signing of the presidential decree formalizing the Prime Minister’s resignation, which takes effect from Friday, leaves the government in administration, limited to actions strictly necessary or unavoidable for the continuation of its activities.
Article 186 of the Constitution provides that, after his resignation, “the government shall limit itself to carrying out acts strictly necessary to ensure the management of public affairs.”
However, the scope of this rule of fundamental law has a wide reach, which led the Constitutional Court to issue a ruling in 2002 to clarify the limitations of executives in management, since there is no other law that concretizes what the ‘ acts’. strictly necessary” for the conduct of public business.
In the ruling, the Ratton Palace judges ruled that an outgoing government has “no restrictions” on the actions it takes, it only has to justify the necessity of doing so.
The “decisive criterion” that guides the actions of an outgoing government is, according to the TC, that of the “strict necessity of its practice”, that is, something that becomes “irredeemable” or absolutely necessary for public management.
The ruling was made after the then President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio, asked the TC to clarify whether the executive power led by António Guterres, who had already resigned in 2002, could approve a legal decree establishing the legal regime was established that applied to the management of hospitals and health centers.
With the formal resignation of the Socialist government, formalized by the signing of the decree of the President of the Republic, the executive will be in charge until the approval of the program of the next government by the Assembly of the Republic after the early parliamentary elections of March. 10, 2024.
The director of António Costa has already indicated that he will not make any far-reaching decisions, such as the privatization of TAP or the choice of the location of the new Lisbon airport.
However, the entry into force of the 2024 state budget on January 1 was guaranteed, with the decision of the President of the Republic to formalize the resignation of the government only after its approval, allowing decisions such as the increase in the minimum amount. wages, national, pensions and public administration to be implemented.
On Saturday, during a visit to the Banco Alimentar Contra a Fome in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa indicated that he intended to formalize the government’s resignation on the night of December 7, in order to allow the approval of “ some important voices for the government”. Recovery Plan and Resilience (PRR)” in the Council of Ministers, and that the dismissal decision will come into effect “on Friday the 8th”.
Regarding the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic, the Head of State confirmed that it will be proclaimed on January 15, the last possible day on which parliamentary elections will take place on March 10, taking into account that this is under the terms of the Constitution and under the Electoral Act, this must be done in the period between the 55th and 60th day prior to the chosen date for the elections.
According to Article 186, paragraph 5 of the Constitution, “the government, after its resignation, shall limit itself to carrying out acts strictly necessary to ensure the management of public affairs.”
The Prime Minister, António Costa, submitted his resignation to the President of the Republic on November 7, due to a judicial investigation into the installation of a data center in Sines and lithium and hydrogen companies, which prompted the Public Prosecutor’s Office to launch an independent investigation at the Supreme Court where he is targeted.
The head of state immediately accepted the prime minister’s resignation, albeit without formalizing it, and over the next two days he heard from the parties with seats in parliament and the State Council.
After the State Council meeting ended on November 9, he announced that he had decided to dissolve parliament and schedule early parliamentary elections for March 10.
In this communication to the country, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa explained that he would postpone the formal process of dismissing the government until “early December”, to allow for the final approval of the 2023 state budget and its entry into force.
According to the President of the Republic, it was necessary to “guarantee the indispensable economic and social stability provided by the preliminary vote on the 2024 state budget.”
“The approval of the budget will allow us to meet the expectations of many Portuguese and monitor the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), which will not and cannot stop if the government becomes a management government or later with the dissolution of the government. Assembly of the Republic,” he explained.
The 2024 state budget was approved during a global final vote in the Assembly of the Republic on November 29, with votes in favor of the absolute majority of PS deputies, abstentions of the individual deputies of the PAN and Livre and votes against of the remaining seats .
Article 195, paragraph 1, paragraph b) of the Constitution provides that “the acceptance by the President of the Republic of the resignation offered by the Prime Minister” is one of the circumstances “entailing the resignation of the Government”.
The Prime Minister and his respective executive remain in office until his successor and the new government take office, and only at that point are they dismissed.
According to Article 186 of the Constitution, “in the event of resignation from the government, the Prime Minister of the outgoing government shall be dismissed on the date of appointment and inauguration of the new Prime Minister,” while “the functions of the remaining members of the outgoing government shall commence. with his inauguration and ends with his resignation or with the resignation of the Prime Minister.”
Source: DN
