This Friday, parliament approved the tobacco law, which provides for strengthening the fight against smoking, submitting it to the health committee for consideration.
Chega, the Liberal Initiative and the Esquerda Bloc voted against, while the PSD, PCP, Livre and PAN abstained.
Isabel Moreira shocked by PS government’s opposition to individual freedom on tobacco
Socialist MP Isabel Moreira today expressed her “deep” shock at the Socialist Party government’s introduction of proposed legislation that aims to make it harder for adults to access the legal product of tobacco.
Isabel Moreira, a constitutionalist and member of the PS National Secretariat, and former minister Alexandra Leitan voted today overall against a government proposal aimed at strengthening standards aimed at preventing and controlling smoking.
Approved by a majority of PS deputies – although also with abstentions from PSD, PCP, PAN, Livre and 14 Socialist deputies – in addition to Isabel Moreira and Alexandra Leitan, the government diploma was voted against Chega, IL and Bloc de Esquerda.
In her voting statement, Isabel Moreira states that she voted against “because there is nothing to preserve in the proposed law.”
“This came after a previous change that required months of evaluation within the working group I was part of. This change has not yet been appreciated, but the impulse of prohibition and health has accelerated, as I predicted at the time,” writes the constitutionalist.
But the Socialist leader goes even further in his criticism of the core issue – rights and freedoms – and also leaves warnings about the constitutionality of the Health Ministry’s proposal.
“As far as individual freedom is concerned, I am deeply shocked that the PS government wants to make it difficult for adults when they want to access a legal product,” he states.
More restrictive measures regarding the places where tobacco sales are permitted, as well as restrictions on the sale of tobacco in vending machines, through home delivery or street vending, according to Isabel Moreira, deserve “refusal”.
“Any ban on smoking in the open air or on terraces that meets the conditions of reasonable protection of third parties is, in my opinion, unconstitutional,” he warns. This point is reinforced later in the same text: “All symbolic norms are unconstitutional.”
The PS MP, on the other hand, defends a view that values freedom and public health “without paternalism and with humanism.”
“Understanding that the state cannot prohibit, condition or punish lawful behavior. It may limit it to the extent that it affects third parties. And such behavior must be reasonable,” he further warns.
In this context, he left the sentence: “It would be great if in 2023 we knew that the freedom of everyone always entails some mutual inconvenience and that the state cannot normalize behavior or create exemplary citizens.”
“So it’s not just about smoking and quitting. This is about our concept of the rule of law,” he added.
Government proposal
The government’s proposal equates traditional tobacco with heated tobacco, tightens the ban on vending machines and bans outdoor smoking near schools, colleges or hospitals.
Speaking to reporters in the Assembly of the Republic on Thursday, PS parliamentary leader Eurico Brillante Díaz assured the approval of most of the proposal, despite the fact that there is freedom of voting in the college and some Socialist deputies speak out against it. .
On the eve of the vote, parties accused the executive of trying to condition Portuguese freedom on a new tobacco law, with Socialist MP Maria Antonia Almeida Santos believing there was “no reason to go any further.”
During parliamentary debates, party forces acknowledged the health risks of tobacco but criticized the proposed changes.
Parliament also rejected the PAN and Chegi bills on changing the labeling of tobacco products and the “Cigarette Butt Law”, with the socialist majority disapproving of both initiatives.
The PAN draft resolution, which recommends the adoption of incentives for the proper disposal and reuse of tobacco product residues, was approved with the CoPs abstaining.
Author: Diogo Carreira This Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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