An extraordinary general assembly of the union began at 2:30 PM, held at the Tivoli Oriente Hotel in Parque das Nações, Lisbon.
The announcement of the upcoming Public Prosecutor’s Office movement, effective from September, faced opposition from the SMMP, which accused the Conselho Superior do Ministério Público (CSMP) of “driving the last nail” into the specialization of prosecutors by requiring professionals to handle civil, criminal, and family and juvenile areas.
The controversy centers around the announcement published on June 4 in the Diário da República, listing positions to be filled by prosecutors in multiple departments and courts simultaneously starting September.
The SMMP argued that the CSMP “created a ‘multitask’ and generalist magistrature, driving the last nail into the long-desired and proclaimed specialization,” with assignments like enforcement and civil in different municipalities, or family and minors, civil, and crime in a single location.
After a meeting on Tuesday with the SMMP, the Attorney General (PGR), Amadeu Guerra, committed to bringing the issue to the CSMP the next day, which he chairs, stating it was his proposal that led the Council to maintain the movement but introduce changes to avoid arbitrariness and service overload for prosecutors.
According to the approved changes, any additional duties for prosecutors decided by a district coordinator must go through an approval hierarchy until ratified, to be communicated by the district to the respective regional attorney general and by the latter to the CSMP, one of the requests the union emphasized, which Amadeu Guerra noted as significant according to the CSMP.
Nevertheless, in statement, reacting to this decision by the CSMP, the SMMP expressed “deep regret” over the decision to maintain it and, in light of “the CSMP and the Attorney General’s Office’s intransigent position, with dialogue clearly exhausted,” declared it “forced to resort to forms of struggle to halt this decision.”
By the end of Tuesday’s meeting with the PGR, the union of prosecutors’ president kept all options open regarding the forms of struggle to be adopted, including a strike.
“The SMMP believes that the procedure in question — which was expected to be annulled —, being within the CSMP’s competence, requires institutional responsibility and sensitivity to the practical and human consequences of this decision. It is a decision with a profound impact on the organization of the Public Prosecutor’s Office – specifically with specialization – and on the personal and professional lives of numerous magistrates,” the union argued in a statement on Wednesday when the decision to maintain the procedure became public.
