PS Rejects PSD Proposal for Access to Courts

This Tuesday, the PS rejected the PSD proposal, which called for a revision of the access to the courts regime and the remuneration tables for professionals in the sector, and which all other parties voted in favor of.

During the plenary vote on the proposed norms as part of the discussion of the State Budget for 2023, the PS was the only party that voted against the PSD proposal, along with all other parties with seats in Parliament (PSD, Chega, IL, PCP, Bloco de Esquerda, PAN and Livre) vote for.

The PSD proposal proposed to revise Law 34/2004, which regulates access to the law and the courts, with the aim of “expanding the circle of beneficiaries of this regime”.

The diploma also stated that the government should proceed to “revise the table of fees for lawyers, legal trainees and solicitors for the services they provide in the context of legal protection.”

In the discussions leading up to the vote on the proposed norms, PSD MP Paula Cardoso defended that “since the end of 2006 justice has been denied to the vast majority of its citizens.”

“Only the very poor or the downright rich can access the law and the courts. There is an urgent need to democratize, facilitate and expand access to justice for more citizens. The criteria must be reviewed and today it is too late,” he defended.

The leader of the Liberal Initiative (IL) parliamentary group, Rodrigo Saraiva, stressed that already during the vote in the committee, the PS was the only party that voted against the PSD proposal, given that the “steel rink” was witnessed by a majority that goes in the opposite direction and tells the other parties, that they are all wrong.

“It would be convenient if this majority had more humility to acknowledge that there are proposals here, namely this proposal for fair access to the Law and the courts, which should be approved and not simply rejected just because they are not represented by them” he defended.