Metadata, euthanasia and project to censor Santos Silva: the ‘hot’ topics of AR in September

The decriminalization of medically assisted death, the metadata law or the Chega project to condemn the behavior of the speaker of parliament are topics that will mark the resumption of parliamentary work in September.

After the holidays, the delegates will return to the Assembly of the Republic on September 6.

There are many diplomas awaiting the arrival of parliamentarians in São Bento, including the motion for a resolution presented by Chega that aims to condemn the behavior of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, and accuse him of lack of impartiality and exemption in the performance of their duties.

It was the Speaker of Parliament himself who asked for advice on the admission of this project to the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, which will review the issue in September, pointing out that he has “very deep and very complex doubts” .

The last few months of parliamentary work were marked by moments of tension between Augusto Santos Silva and Chega’s parliamentary bench, which culminated in the party’s deputies leaving the meeting room in late July in protest.

Another of the ‘files’ to be reinstated in September is the government’s draft law, to which the PSD, Chega and PCP laws have been added, which aim to overcome the Constitutional Court’s veto against the metadata law .

The working group in Parliament devoted to this topic decided to extend the discussion on this topic until after the holidays and several hearings have already been approved, namely the National Director of the Judicial Police, Luís Neves, the President of ANACOM, João Cadete de Matos, the Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, as well as the National Data Protection Commission.

In an April 19 ruling, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional rules of the Metadata Act that require telephone and Internet service providers to retain data related to customer communications — including origin, destination, date and time, equipment type and location — for a period of one year. , for possible use in criminal investigations.

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has already said that he will ask the Constitutional Court to conduct preventive inspection of the new law to be passed by parliament.

Another legislative process to be completed regarding the return of parliamentary work is that of medically assisted death, a topic that has been debated in parliament since 2018, with pros and cons, and which has already been the target of two vetoes : the first time after the Constitutional Court, following an inspection request from Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. A second time, the decree was again rejected by the president after a political veto.

At work in the specialty, which should resume in September, are initiatives from PS, BE, PAN and Liberal Initiative dropping the “deadly disease” requirement.

PS, BE and IL propose euthanasia in situations of “final injury of extreme seriousness” or “serious and incurable disease”. With regard to this last criterion, the PAN sets the requirement of “serious or incurable disease”.

The process of reviewing the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic was also postponed until next month, focal point being the change in the model of parliamentary debates with the Prime Minister.

With the exception of PS and PCP (which provide for monthly debates with the Head of Government), all other parties defend the resumption of the biweekly debates with the Prime Minister, which ended with the latest amendment of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic, approved by the PS and PSD on July 23, 2020.

Another topic that should preoccupy the delegates’ work in September is Chega’s already announced constitutional reform project.

Last year, the Possible Constitutional Reform Commission discussed only one project of the party led by André Ventura, after the Liberal Initiative withdrew its own. This revision was ultimately rejected by all other political forces.

One issue also awaiting resolution is the draft emergency health law presented by the government, a diploma prepared by a technical committee appointed by the Prime Minister, António Costa, to review the legal framework applicable in the context of a pandemic according to the experience with covid-19.

The president of the republic has already announced that, while he has no strong doubts about its constitutionality, he intends to send the future emergency health law to the Constitutional Court as a preventative measure to enforce it and avoid appeal.