The president of the republic wrote to the president of the parliament of the Azores that a future “additional diploma” on medically assisted death, “which will refer to the regional health services”, should involve the regional government authorities.
“An additional diploma, which can refer to the regional health services, which are autonomous, must of course involve the competent self-governing bodies of the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira,” says Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in the letter released this Thursday by Luis Garcia, President of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores.
In the communication, the President of the Republic (PR) recognizes that “with regard to citizens’ access to public health services, for the effective application of this material regime, the diploma [da morte medicamente assistida, aprovado na Assembleia da República] refers only to competent structures in the mainland territory (National Health Service, General Inspectorate of Health Activities, Directorate General of Health), in which the Autonomous Regions do not fit”.
Regarding the fact that Garcia defended that the Autonomous Regions should have been heard when drawing up the diploma approved by the Assembly of the Republic, the PR believes that “according to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, it does not appear to be diploma , a specific interest or a particular difference of the Autonomous Regions”.
The President of the Parliament of the Azores wrote a letter to PR on December 16 warning that the Autonomous Regions’ ruling on the law on death with medical assistance was “not only obligatory but essential”, namely for reasons of “practical order “.
“I understand that the ruling of the Autonomous Regions was not only mandatory but also essential so that the final text would take into account regional specifics, namely the geographic and archipelago distribution of the Azores and the specificity of the regional health service [SRS]Luís Garcia said in the message addressed to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Luís Garcia asks the PR to take into account the arguments “in the final analysis of the diploma”, Luís Garcia warns that the Azores have six islands without a hospital, where “practical problems would make the application of the law infeasible or very difficult can make” in the archipelago.
“All these issues could and should have been properly considered and protected if the self-governing bodies of the Autonomous Regions had been heard during the legislative process, as follows from our fundamental law,” states the President of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores.
On Wednesday, the PR had already invoked the guidelines of the Constitutional Court (TC) not to accept the accusation of unconstitutionality of the regional assemblies of Madeira and the Azores in its request for preventive supervision of euthanasia.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed his position on the legislative process of the medically assisted death diploma in statements to journalists shortly after sworn in two ministers and six secretaries of state in the government led by António Costa.
The president of the republic on Wednesday sent the parliamentary decree decriminalizing medically assisted death to the Constitutional Court for pre-emptive inspection of its constitutionality, recalling that “in 2021, the TC formulated requirements in a very expressive manner when valuing it – which he is considered unconstitutional – and that the text of that diploma has been substantially amended by the Assembly of the Republic”.
“Certainty and legal certainty are essential in the central domain of rights, freedoms and safeguards,” he stressed.
The second reason that motivated the PR not to accept the request of the regional assemblies was related to the universe and diversity of National Health Service (SNS) coverage in the national territory and the possibility that these regional differences could later would be modeled in regulations. of the diploma.
“It is true that there are regional health services that are not autonomous from the SNS. And it is true that the diploma, in the application part, is designed for the SNS and for entities that are essentially authorized only on the mainland , but that is to solve in the regulation of the degree,” he defended.
From the head of state’s perspective, in regulating its application to the Autonomous Region of the Azores and Madeira, if euthanasia comes into effect, the regional institutions “must” intervene.
At that point, “it’s about applying the law, as soon as it comes into effect, for services that are so different from the mainland,” he added.
Source: DN
