Stop considering a referendum as “the only way to solve the problem”

President Chegi said on Monday that his party had warned against the unconstitutionality of the euthanasia law and insisted that a referendum was “the only way to solve the problem in a peaceful and consensual way.”

André Ventura said he will ask the President of the Republic for an audience that will already take place after his re-election as leader of the party at this weekend’s convention, in which he will demand “specifically the convening of a referendum in accordance with the legislation in force here in the Assembly of the Republic, legislation on euthanasia”, which he considered “the only way to solve this problem in a peaceful and consensual way”.

The Chegi leader spoke to reporters in the Assembly of the Republic after the Constitutional Court (CC) declared unconstitutional certain provisions of the decree regulating euthanasia, in response to a request from the President of the Republic.

Following this decision, the President of the Republic vetoed this parliamentary decree as unconstitutional, as required by the Constitution, and the diploma will now be returned to the Assembly of the Republic.

André Ventura defended that “this process can only be decided by a referendum”, arguing that “an issue of such importance, twice declared unconstitutional by the TC by law, can only be decided with the direct participation of the Portuguese citizens”.

President Chegi emphasized the “advantages” of the referendum, given that “the matter will be approved by the Constitutional Court” and that there will be “public debate” about it.

“It also has the advantage that, regardless of the majority and in a legislature that no one believes will cease to exist, we should not have the right to repeal this law immediately after receiving a majority in parliament,” he added.

André Ventura also noted that “Chega complained about this process, warned that it would be unconstitutional and that it would be very difficult for us to make a decision other than this.”

For leader Cheg, “the lack of implementation of concepts in such an important area as the definition of what is life and death, or the right to commit suicide with medical assistance, was too serious a matter to do it out of confusion, with political haste, just wanting to be afraid that this legislative assembly will not end and that this process will not be completed.

The Constitutional Court considered that an “unacceptable lack of definition of the precise scope” of the physician-assisted death decree had been created, noting that Parliament had gone “further” by amending the previous diploma “in significant respects”.

It was the third decree approved by Parliament to decriminalize death in healthcare in a period of about two years.

The first one was also declared unconstitutional by the Labor Code in March 2021 at the request of the President of the Republic for a preventive check due to insufficient regulatory compaction.

In November of the same year, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa exercised a political veto against the second parliamentary decree on this subject, as it contained contradictory language.