This Wednesday, the President of the Republic vetoed two parliamentary decrees that amend the Statute of the Bar Association and Execution Agents and the legal regime for the actions of lawyers and prosecutors.
The vetoes were announced through two notes on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic on the Internet.
In total, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed seven of a series of 21 decrees on professional orders approved in the Assembly of the Republic on October 13, with votes in favor of the PS, and promulgated the remaining 14.
The previous five decrees of this legislative package, vetoed by the Head of State in recent days, contained changes to the statutes of the orders of engineers, architects, lawyers, nurses and doctors.
The President of the Republic has promulgated changes to the statutes of the orders of statutory auditors, official coordinators, social workers, biologists, dentists, certified accountants, notaries, psychologists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, technical engineers, economists, veterinarians and nutritionists.
In the note on the decree amending the Statute of the Bar Association and Execution Agents, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa states that he vetoed it after hearing the respective president, and reproduces the arguments put forward in the letter addressed to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, to justify this veto.
In the letter to the Assembly of the Republic, published as an attachment, the Head of State believes that, as the Bar Association and Execution Agents stated in its publicly expressed position, the changes have harmful consequences for the legal system and the protection of the fundamental rights of citizens”.
In his opinion, “the mandatory internship allowance regime, without being accompanied by public co-financing, where and when justified, may constitute a serious obstacle to access to the profession, resulting in a reduction in the number of qualified professionals” .
“On the other hand, the intervention of the state and public authorities is increasing, especially with regard to the content of the internship, which amounts to a duplication of interventions, more bureaucracy and lack of respect for self-regulation,” he adds.
Finally, according to the President of the Republic, changing the advertising regime without providing the necessary guarantees for the accuracy of the information transmitted could result in misinformation for citizens, causing serious damage to their fundamental rights. area of great sensitivity.”
In the letter on the decree modifying the legal regime for actions specific to lawyers and notaries, which was also vetoed after hearing the respective presidents, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa endorses the view of these two professional orders that “the changes have harmful consequences for the legal system and the protection of citizens’ fundamental rights”.
The Head of State states that “the change in question significantly extends the practice of actions previously reserved for lawyers, prosecutors and bailiffs to a range of other professionals” and that “in particular legal consultation, drawing up contracts and negotiating credits” .
The President of the Republic added that “in such a sensitive area, where the rights of citizens are at stake, it is essential to ensure technical training and compliance with ethical rules by the professionals involved”.
“By allowing the practice of these actions to other professionals, who are not subject to mandatory internships or regulated by the respective decrees, without being subject to the respective disciplinary rules, it is not possible to improve the quality of their training and compliance with the rules. ethical rules. Moreover, these professionals are not particularly covered by the restrictive advertising rules, and without control they can contribute to less responsibility and control over the services provided and to disinformation of citizens,” he criticizes.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reiterates once again, as he did with the five previous vetoes of decrees on the statutes of professional associations, that he does not intend to ‘fulfill the obligations of the Portuguese State towards the European Union, in the context of the Recovery and Resilience Program (PRR)”, which, he states, “are not being questioned”.
Source: DN
