PS, BE and Livre refuse Aguiar-Branco’s offer to hear former TC presidents at the leadership conference

A proposal by the President of the Assembly of the Republic to hear former Presidents of the Constitutional Court at a leaders’ conference on Wednesday on the issue of freedom of expression for MPs was rejected by the PS, BE and Livre.

This information was provided to the Lusa agency on Monday by a source in parliament.

Given the lack of consensus among parliamentary groups, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, “will look for another model” for consultations with the former presidents of the Constitutional Court.

Aguiar-Branco today proposed to parliamentary groups that the former presidents of the Constitutional Court be heard at a leaders’ conference on Wednesday dedicated to freedom of expression for MPs and its compatibility with possible “red lines”.

This initiative was sent to the chairmen of parliamentary factions, as well as the sole deputy of the PAN, as well as “deputies” in parliament and members of the board.

According to his proposal, at the beginning of this leaders’ conference, “the question of the limits of freedom of speech of respected deputies and their possible compatibility with the establishment of red lines” will be considered.

The issue that arose on Friday morning in plenary after Cega leader André Ventura mentioned the working possibilities of the Turkish people regarding the construction of the new Lisbon airport, which led to the BE, Livre and PS benches defending the intervention to the President of Parliament, to prevent such speech, which they consider “xenophobic”.

In a letter sent to various parliamentary groups to which the Luza agency had access, the reason for Aguiar-Branco’s proposal to listen to the leaders who were presidents of the Constitutional Court was justified.

“Given that the issue at hand is of particular importance and has consequences for the political system, it justifies a detailed analysis from a legal-constitutional point of view. Therefore (…) the President of the Assembly of the Republic is meant to be It is important to listen to the former Presidents of the Constitutional Court so that they can share their opinions and possible consequences, especially in a context in which respected deputies benefit from greater freedom of expression in the performance of their duties thanks to the institution parliamentary immunity,” the text says.

In particular, Aguiar-Branco understood that the invitations should be addressed to José Manuel Cardoso da Costa, Rui Moura Ramos, Joaquim Sousa Ribeiro, Manuel da Costa Andrade and João Kaupers.