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The Prime Minister even advances to the Constitutional Court with the social support approved by Parliament, against the PS, and the President of the Republic promulgated, despite the brake law that prevents the deputies from increasing spending or decreasing the income expected in the State Budget. . The Prime Minister maintains that the three laws “violate” the Constitution because they “impose an increase in the expenditure set in the Budget.” “It is dangerous to set a precedent that opens the door to the fear expressed by the President of the Republic that ‘parliamentary practice will become a constant disfigurement of the State Budgets'”António Costa said this afternoon in a statement to the country.
After some hesitation since he learned of the decision of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister went so far as to affirm that “the Constitution is very clear in the distribution of powers. Parliament is sovereign in the approval of the Budget and the Government is fully responsible for its execution. For this reason, once the Budget is approved, the Assembly cannot increase expenses or decrease income, as provided for in said Budget ”. To ignore the rule of brakes, enshrined in the Constitution, would mean “Legal uncertainty”, which “generates insecurity and undermines trust in the institutions,” Costa said in the statement made in front of the São Bento Palace.
By easing possible tensions with Belém, he various quotes from the president of the republic that the prime minister used in the statement he read in front of the São Bento Palace. One of them was when he reinforced that this decision appears in the “normal exercise” of his “powers, within the framework of the principle of separation and interdependence of powers enshrined in the Constitution, that is, as the President of the Republic very well summed up: ‘Democracy and the rule of law work’ ”.
For António Costa, “The Law is Law and the Constitution is the Supreme Law, which is our duty to comply and enforce, popular or unpopular, whether or not we are in an election year, whether it is the majority government or not, “he said, adding that” the Constitution is always the Constitution. ” And without forgetting to give as an example what happened in the mandate of his predecessor in São Bento: “This pandemic is the toughest fight of our lives. But, As I defended in the previous crisis, this crisis must also be faced in scrupulous compliance with the ConstitutionCosta said in an indirect reference to the budgetary norms that were sent to the Constitutional Court for successive inspections and that ended up being blocked, during the period of troika, as happened for example with cuts in pensions.
And he divided the argument in his favor into four points, where he did not even forget his predecessor in São Bento, Pedro Passos Coelho:
- “First, the Government cannot fail to comply with a law of the Assembly of the Republic while it is in force, even if it considers it unconstitutional and only the Constitutional Court can declare with general binding force the unconstitutionality of a law ”;
- “Second, the Beneficiary citizens have the right to know what they can count on, if with what the Assembly of the Republic approved, if with what the Government would limit in its interpretation ”;
- “Third, There is no fair way to bring these parliamentary laws back to budget limits.. How would we apply this limit? Supporting some and not others? Give only to those who were quicker to ask, until the the ceiling available and rejecting all subsequent orders? Reduce the amount of support paid to all, violating the provisions of the law?
- “Room, it’s dangerous to set a precedent which opens the door to the fear expressed by the President of the Republic that “parliamentary practice will constantly disfigure the State Budgets.”
This despite assuming that the President’s message ends up being even favorable to the Government, as he assumed when he said that Marcelo “sought to limit the constitutional damages of these Laws by proposing an interpretation that deviates their practical effect, and It even strengthens the powers of the Government, when I understand – and I quote – that ‘the titles can be applied, to the extent that they respect the limits resulting from the current State Budgets’ “. In these three days of consideration, this was an argument that weighed on the decision of the Prime Minister, who described Marcelo’s decision as “very creative.”
Regarding the measures, António Costa made a long list of what the Government has already done to respond to the crisis triggered by the pandemic and, in the end, stated that “therefore, the merit or demerit of the measures is not in dispute.. What is at stake is the defense of the Constitution and the way in which it guarantees the stability of the budget and establishes the balance of powers between the Government and the Assembly of the Republic ”.
He recalled that “at the initiative of the Government, measures to support the family, independent workers and incentives for health professionals have already been implemented and will be in force. All these situations have guaranteed financing in the State Budgets ”, said Costa to try to deflate the impact that a brake on these measures can have on families. And he added that the reinforcement that was made in mid-March, at the initiative of the Government, is already “the result of the intense dialogue and negotiation that the Government promoted and that allowed the approval of the State Budgets for 2021.” by the Assembly of the Republic. The issue, he reinforced in his message, is that “what the Constitution does not allow is that, now, Parliament can increase spending with these supports, in addition to what is foreseen in the Budget that Parliament itself approved.”
As Rádio Renascença had reported last Thursday, the Government had already pressured the president in this regard, but Marcelo ended up not complying with the wishes of António Costa and gave the green light to the diplomas that were approved only with the vote against the PS in Parliament in early March.
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