The Assembly of the Republic should on Friday confirm the diploma vetoed by the President of the Republic on medically assisted death, an intention announced by PS, BE, IL and PAN, forcing its promulgation.
According to the constitution of the republic, despite a right of veto, the parliament can confirm the text with an absolute majority of the deputies in office, 116 out of 230, and in this case the president of the republic will approve the diploma within eight days after the date of receipt.
This is the fourth bill that aims to decriminalize medically assisted death and amend the Criminal Code. The issue has already been the target of two political vetoes by the head of state and two vetoes following unconstitutionality declared by the Constitutional Court.
The final veto occurred on April 19, when Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa asked the deputies to clarify two points of the decree.
“Specifically, I ask the Assembly of the Republic to consider clarifying who defines the patient’s physical inability to self-administer lethal drugs, and who should ensure medical supervision during the act of medically assisted death,” the letter reads. which the Head of State addressed to the parliament.
Speaking to journalists, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa dispelled doubts about the constitutionality of the decree, stating that he vetoed it due to “a problem of precision”, and believed that its confirmation “has no drama”.
This time, unlike on previous occasions, the proposing parties (PS, IL, BE and PAN) have decided not to change the text approved on March 31, which stipulates in this version that medically assisted death can only take place through euthanasia if physician-assisted suicide is impossible because of the patient’s physical incapacity.
In March, the text was approved with votes in favor of the majority of the PS bank, the Liberal Initiative, the Left Bloc, six PSD deputies and the only deputies from PAN and Livre.
It had votes against the majority of the PSD, Chega, PCP and five PS deputies. There were two abstentions, one socialist deputy and one social democrat.
When the first legislative initiatives appeared in this area, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a practicing Catholic, defended a long and wide public debate, but he stepped out of the discussion and referred his role to the end of the parliamentary legislative process.
After receiving the first parliamentary decree on the matter, it sent it to the Constitutional Court, which declared it unconstitutional in March 2021 due to insufficient prescriptive densification.
In November 2021, before the second decree, the head of state used the political veto, as it contained contradictory expressions.
Already during the current legislature, after receiving the third decree of parliament, on January 30, he sent it to the Constitutional Court, which declared it unconstitutional.
Source: DN
