PS will correct unconstitutional norms in the law on euthanasia and says that the problem is now in semantics

PS announced on Monday that it will correct the norms declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, claims that it is only a question of “meaning” and that most of the arguments of the President of the Republic have not been successful.

This position was expressed by Socialist MP and leader Isabel Moreira after the Constitutional Court (CC) ruled unconstitutional some of the provisions of the decree governing medically assisted death in response to a request from the President of the Republic for a preventive check.

Shortly thereafter, in accordance with the decision of the TC, the President of the Republic vetoed as unconstitutional a parliamentary decree decriminalizing physician-assisted death, as required by the Constitution.

From Isabelle Moreira’s point of view, regarding the constitutionality of medically assisted death, this is just a matter of “semantics”.

“Apparently, without prejudice to a very careful reading of the complex judgment, and with many voting clarifications – from what was received, there were seven votes to six – the question of TC is reduced to one word. ” defended.

According to the leader of the Socialists, where the decree defines the suffering of great strength, “they say that this is physical, psychological and spiritual suffering.”

“And the TC wants the parliament to clearly define what is absolutely clear to us, but we must respect whether it is cumulative or not,” he stressed.

However, with this decision of the TC, according to the constitutionalist from the PS, “the question of whether euthanasia is unconstitutional in itself is closed once and for all.” “On the other hand, most of the arguments of the President of the Republic were unsuccessful, namely the question of whether the notion of a serious and incurable disease would be unconstitutional in the face of another notion that already existed in another diploma relating to death. disease,” said Isabelle Moreira.

At the same time, the constitutionalist from the PS added that the constitutional issue related to the expectation of death is also excluded.

So “the fact that these questions have been dropped is a big win. When it comes to correcting the word, we will be here in Parliament to do so, along with all the other parties that contribute to this common text.” emphasized.

Isabelle Moreira confirmed to journalists the thesis that the TC “did not confirm the most important questions” that were raised in the request for a preventive check by the President of the Republic.

“There is a semantic problem here, which for the TC was strong enough to declare unconstitutionality. I say this with the caveat that you still need to read the decision very carefully,” he stressed.

Isabelle Moreira disagreed with the position of the majority of the TC judges on the issue of whether it is cumulative in terms of the type of physical, spiritual and psychological suffering.

“For us, ‘e’ means ‘and’, not ‘or’. But we will be here to dispel any doubts, and I think that conditions have been created for the diploma to remain clean, and this last doubt was resolved in the TC,” he said. added.

This was the third decree passed in Parliament on euthanasia and the second time that a head of state had requested a preventive check on the matter on 4 January.