This initiative, consisting of two separate documents for each decree, was announced at a press conference in the Assembly of the Republic by António Rodrigues, MP and vice-president of the PSD Parliamentary Group, and João Almeida, MP of the CDS-PP.
António Rodrigues accused the PS of acting out of “political divergences” rather than “reasons of unconstitutionality” in their requests to the Constitutional Court (TC) and stressed the importance of making the court aware of the legal motivations of the PSD and CDS-PP.
The PSD deputy noted that “this mechanism is used for the first time in the history of Portuguese democracy” by parliamentary groups, describing it as “a response from the opposing side to the TC” in the context of requests for preventive verification of constitutionality.
When asked if they intend to confirm the decrees in the event of unconstitutionality being declared by the Constitutional Court, António Rodrigues stated they would await the judges’ decision, adding, “We neither exclude nor fail to exclude [this possibility], because we do not know what the Constitutional Court will do.”
The parliamentary decree revising the Nationality Law and another amending the Penal Code to include the loss of nationality as an accessory penalty, both originating from a government proposal by the PSD/CDS-PP, were approved on October 28 with 157 votes in favor from PSD, Chega, IL, CDS-PP, and JPP, and 64 votes against from PS, Livre, PCP, BE, and PAN.
The majority with which they were approved, exceeding two-thirds of MPs, allows for their potential confirmation even if deemed unconstitutional by the TC, as per the Constitution.
The PS parliamentary group submitted requests for preventive verification of the constitutionality of norms in these two decrees last Wednesday, signed by 50 MPs.
