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Article 172 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic says that there are two moments in which the Head of State cannot dissolve the Assembly of the Republic (AR): in the six months prior to his election and in the six months prior to the end of his mandate.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa entered this Wednesday, September 9, in the last semester of his presidency, as he recalled two weeks ago at the Book Fair, when he was asked about the approval of the State Budgets (OE). “The President of the Republic is not going to be in a political crisis. Therefore, let those who think that if no effort is made to understand that there will be a dissolution of Parliament in the short space of time before the President, until 8 September, may be disappointed. This is an adventure, a political crisis in addition to the economic and health crisis. “
But, why was this law created that prevents the Head of State from dissolving the RA? And what if it plunged into a political crisis? Teresa Violante, constitutionalist, clarifies.
Regarding the first question, the constitutionalist explains that article 172 aims to “to prevent the use of this power from being used for electoral purposes”, especially important in the case of a president who will run for office, as Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is presumed to be. A Thus, the Constitution guarantees that this power will not be used with the objective of “manipulating results”, excluding the hypothesis that an electoral process could contaminate another electoral process.
What about a political crisis scenario? Does the president just not intervene? No. It is that, despite losing such power to dissolve AR, it maintains other powers. In this case, “the government may resign,” a condition that the Constitution guarantees out of necessity, that is, “when it is necessary for the functioning of democratic institutions.”
But let’s go to what’s on the table: OE approval. If the Government cannot have enough parliamentary support to approve the State Budgets, what are the solutions? “It depends on the political judgment,” says the constitutionalist. In addition to the resignation of the Government, there are other hypotheses – more likely, even, considers the constitutionalist. “It is more equitable that, in the absence of parliamentary consensus for the approval of the EO, the government remains in office,” he says. But how? Or, in the meantime, reach an agreement or move to a government with a twelfth regime.
What does this mean? That, in case it is not approved until the beginning of the following year, in 2021 the EO prepared in 2020 will remain in force. That is to say: the State cannot exceed the total expenditure for this year, with the monthly expenditure of each agency limited to one twelfth (one twelfth) of that value.
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