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The presidential decree of the state of emergency “of limited scope” and “mainly preventive effects”, as requested by the Prime Minister on Monday, has already received the green light from the Government and has been sent to the Assembly of the Republic, where It will be debated and approved on Friday, in a plenary session scheduled for 4pm. Once approved, the President of the Republic will make a statement to the country explaining the decision. The state of emergency will take effect on Monday and will last for 15 days.
In compliance with what is required by the Constitution, the three highest bodies of the Portuguese State, by declaring a state of exception, will allow the restriction of some fundamental rights. Now it is up to the Government to define the measures necessary to contain the pandemic covid-19 under the presidential decree, and an extraordinary Council of Ministers with this objective is already scheduled for Saturday.
“After listening to the Government, which had proposed and pronounced it in a favorable light at the end of the morning, the President of the Republic has just sent to the Assembly of the Republic, for authorization, the draft diploma that decrees the state of emergency for 15 days. , from November 9 to 23, allowing the Government to take certain measures to combat the pandemic [de] COVID-19 “, but-I know in a message posted on site The presidency.
The four pillars are those requested by the Prime Minister: “The possibility that the Government impose restrictions on movement in certain places at certain times, particularly in the highest risk municipalities; the use, if necessary and preferably by agreement, of private, social and cooperative sanitary facilities, with due compensation; the mobilization of workers, as well as the Armed and Security Forces, to strengthen health authorities in epidemiological and screening surveys; and the possibility to measure body temperature, by non-invasive means, and by imposing tests on access to certain services and equipment ”.
In the justifying note sent to Parliament, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa writes that “the evolution of the pandemic [de] covid-19, as well as the lessons learned, justify the greater guarantees of legal certainty of the measures adopted or to be adopted by the competent authorities for the corresponding prevention and response, in areas such as the call for human resources for screening, state control, health , freedom of movement and use of private and social or cooperative resources ”.
“This reinforced guarantee requires the declaration of a state of exception of very limited scope and with mainly preventive effects,” he underlines, making it clear that this constitutional emergency situation is based “on the verification of a situation of public calamity.”
There are four areas of rights conditioned or restricted by this presidential proposal: the rights to freedom and movement, the right to private, social and cooperative initiative, the rights of workers and the “right to free development of personality and appearance. negative of the law ”. health”.
Restricted travel rights
In the case of the rights to freedom and movement, it is foreseen that “the competent public authorities may impose the necessary restrictions to reduce the risk of contagion and implement measures to prevent and combat the epidemic, that is, in the municipalities with the highest level of risk, as well as, to the extent strictly necessary and proportional, the prohibition of driving on public roads during certain periods of the day or certain days of the week ”, that is, the door is open to curfew and also to regional or local feedlots.
Will also be ban on unjustified travel, with several exceptions already provided: “the performance of professional activities”, obtaining medical care or assistance to third parties, the frequency of educational establishments, the production and supply of goods and services.
“Other compelling reasons” are also envisaged, and the Government “specifies the situations and purposes in which individual freedom of movement is maintained, preferably without accompaniment.”
“Fair compensation” for individuals
The decree also establishes that “the resources, means and establishments for the provision of health care in the private, social and cooperative sectors may be used by the competent public authorities.” But the president determines that this must occur “preferably by agreement” and “with fair compensation, as necessary to ensure the treatment of patients with covid-19 or the maintenance of care in relation to other pathologies.”
It is, therefore, a kind of attenuated civil requisition, since it does not give the Government the absolute power to request services, or to determine the price to pay for them. It addresses the concerns of the health sector entities that the President has heard in the last two weeks.
Mobilization of workers
The decree also establishes that “collaborators of public or private entities, of the social or cooperative sector, regardless of the type of link or respective functional content, may be mobilized by the competent public authorities, even if they are not health professionals.”
This mobilization is aimed in particular at “public servants in prophylactic isolation or covered by the exceptional protection regime for immunosuppressed and chronically ill patients, to support health authorities and services, specifically in conducting epidemiological surveys, follow-up contacts and of people under active surveillance ”.
Mandatory temperature detection and control
In the fourth level of restricted rights, personality and health rights, it is admitted that “body temperature controls can be imposed, by non-invasive means, as well as diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2.”
This limitation is applicable in predefined cases: for “access and permanence in the workplace or as a condition of access to public services or institutions, educational establishments and commercial, cultural or sports spaces, in the use of means of transport or in relation to people institutionalized or housed in residential structures, health establishments, prisons or educational centers and their workers ”.
This guarantees the obligation to submit tests of various types, including rapid tests, which will begin to be distributed from next week.
The presidential decree also determines that the Armed and Security Forces will support the authorities and health services in carrying out epidemiological investigations, in contact tracing and in the follow-up of people under active surveillance.
With the declaration of the state of emergency, the Government loses the power to determine, on its own, the measures to take to combat the pandemic. All measures that restrict rights, freedoms and guarantees must be communicated to Parliament and the President of the Republic, as is also clear in the decree.
