The Republic’s plenary this Tuesday definitively rejected the PSD project calling for a referendum on the decriminalization of euthanasia, after the diploma was rejected by the speaker of parliament for being unconstitutional.
The PSD appealed Augusto Santos Silva’s decision and an opinion was drafted, written by Socialist deputy Isabel Moreira, which also concluded that the initiative was unconstitutional.
The opinion, adopted in the early afternoon in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, also received the green light from the 187 deputies present in the plenary with votes for PS, IL and Livre, Chega abstained and against PSD , PCP, BE and PAN.
During the interventions before the vote, the PSD was surprised by the abstention of Chega, the party that raised the issue of the unconstitutionality of the Social Democratic initiative, accusing it of “being ashamed to be on the side of the PS” . in this opinion.
In the reply, Chega accused the PSD of “a huge mess in this process”.
The plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic thus confirmed the decision of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, who last week refused to admit the PSD project, considering it to be contrary to the principle of the constitution that prevents an initiative on an issue already rejected.
In June, parliament had already ‘failed’ a draft resolution by Chega calling for a plebiscite on the same issue.
PSD bank vice president Joaquim Pinto Moreira reiterated “absolute conviction” in the constitutionality of the diploma – and reiterated the argument that it is “substantially different” from the Chega project – but focused his intervention on criticism of the party led by André Ventura.
“The main party that jumped today in the first instance to defend the unconstitutionality abstained today. I can only draw one conclusion: either it was an outburst in the marriage of convenience with the PS, or it was an act of manifest regret for Cheg,” he said. said, wondering if this party is “ashamed” to be associated with the PS or to “not give a voice to the Portuguese people”.
In response, André Ventura said that “there is a difference” between the PS advice and the appeal Chega has filed for the non-admission of the PSD project.
“Don’t play with me, don’t say one thing in June and another now. Your colleague Paula Cardoso said that this question had no head or tail, but 50 PSD deputies voted in favour,” he stressed.
André Ventura accused the PSD of making “a big mess” with this referendum proposal and even questioned “if everything is crazy”, a statement that earned him a remark from the parliament speaker.
Augusto Santos Silva was keen to point out that his decision not to allow the PSD project was not made “at anyone’s request”.
“I have a responsibility to ensure that the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure are respected,” he said, adding that his decision also took into account the technical note from the services, which went in the same direction, and the views of the parties at the leadership conference.
For the PS, MP Pedro Delgado Alves insisted that if the PSD wanted a referendum, it should have voted in favor of the Chega initiative in June, adding that he had several opportunities after that to raise the issue.
“Surely it is not three days before the vote that this issue will come up”, he defended, insisting that “what remains is the interpretation of the constitutional norm”, with which one can even disagree.
But, he continued, “the truth is that whoever is to interpret this standard, in a case identical to this one, has already done so in the past and has observed that an initiative of this content is unconstitutional”.
The blocking parliamentary leader, Pedro Filipe Soares, criticized Chega’s abstention in the vote on the opinion of the 1st committee, recalling that even before the discussion of the PSD initiative, either in committee or in a conference of leaders, this party filed a petition to Santos Silva demanding that it be declared unconstitutional.
“When we talk about constitutionality, we already know, it’s empty words, which is why we already know why they don’t get the statutes right in this process,” he shot at Chega, insisting that the PSD initiative should have been allowed, even though I disagree with its content.
Paula Santos, parliamentary leader of the PCP, also spoke out against holding a referendum, but also defended that the initiative of the PSD should have been accepted.
Source: DN
