Former PSD leader Pedro Passos Coelho called on parties opposed to the decriminalization of euthanasia to commit transparently to reverting the law in the future, if they have a majority in parliament.
In an article in the online newspaper Observador, published on Thursday evening, on the eve of today’s vote on the law, in the Assembly of the Republic, the former Social Democratic Prime Minister (2011-2015) claims that he still does not understand that one party – without referring directly to the PSD – does not take a fundamental position on the issue.
“More than waiting for a decision from the Constitutional Court”, when the president of the republic raises the issue, Passos Coelho wants the parties “against this ‘revolution’ of organizing euthanasia to commit transparently to to fight for its repeal” if we want to succeed in winning a majority of the deputies in the future.
“It would be good to know that in the near future there will be those who do not conform or give up, putting on the table the reversal of the decision that parliament is ready to take, as in a mature democracy,” Passos writes. Coelho, who opposes the decriminalization of assisted death and the diploma that will be voted on today for being “radical”, reads into the text.
Without referring directly to the PSD, the former Social Democratic president does not dispute the party’s decision to give delegates freedom to vote on this issue, saying it is “a matter of individual conscience”.
But, he adds, “one thing is to accept conscientious objection to these kinds of decisions, another is to state that as a party one has no clue about these matters and let the delegates decide for themselves what their conscience indicates”.
The text on the decriminalization of medically assisted death is being debated today in a final global vote in parliament, an issue that has already passed three legislative terms and two presidential vetoes.
The initiative that goes to the plenary of the Republic is based on bills from the PS, Liberal Initiative, BE and PAN, and was approved this Wednesday in the specialty in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, after three postponements .
Chega and PCP are against, and Iniciativa Liberal, BE, PAN and Livre are in favour. The PSD has already announced that it will give voting freedom to its deputies – in this, which is the first time that the issue will be voted on under the presidency of Luís Montenegro’s party and Joaquim Miranda Sarmento’s parliamentary group.
In the previous legislature, the decriminalization of medically assisted death under certain conditions, amending the Penal Code, received a large majority in parliament, but was subject to two vetoes by the President of the Republic: the first time after the Constitutional Court ruled, following a request for inspection by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. A second time, the decree was again rejected by the president after a political veto.
Source: DN
