The final solution for the bill regulating lobbying activities, pending a comprehensive final vote in the plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic, has emerged from a joint text endorsed by PSD, PS, Chega, and CDS.
During the meeting, a surprising incident occurred: At the beginning, Iniciativa Liberal’s deputy, Jorge Miguel Teixeira, initially announced he would not join the consensus text but later admitted to his colleagues that he hadn’t followed the matter closely, which led to a mistake on his part. Consequently, he agreed to the final text compromised by the major parliamentary groups.
Prior to the global vote on the agreed substitution text, PSD, PS, CDS, and Chega expressed their satisfaction at the potential approval of lobbying activity regulation by the end of the year—a process previously stalled during the last legislature due to the dissolution of parliament and subsequent early elections.
Nonetheless, António Rodrigues (PSD) and Pedro Delgado Alves (PS) noted in their statements that the consensus was enhanced by political groundwork in previous legislatures. They acknowledged the necessity to revisit the soon-to-be-approved bill in the Assembly of the Republic “within a year or two” to refine it based on early implementation experiences.
Conversely, PCP’s parliamentary leader, Paula Santos, expressed “total opposition” to the establishment of this new regime, asserting it legitimizes “influence trafficking,” which she believes will not aid in combating corruption.
On the other hand, CDS parliamentary leader Paulo Núncio argued that his party was the first to propose a legislative initiative for lobbying regulation back in 2016 and lamented “a lost decade.” This critique of the legislative process’s slow pace was echoed by social democrat António Rodrigues and socialist Pedro Delgado Alves.
