Socialist party
Francisco Caesar
The leader of the PS-Açores accuses the PSD of wanting to exclude the PS from negotiations for appointments to the Constitutional in order to take revenge on the judges’ restrictions on austerity measures during the troika.
The leader of PS-Açores, Francisco Caesaraccuses the PSD of wanting to take revenge in the choice of judges for the Constitutional Court (TC) with the PS’s removal from the negotiations.
In an interview with and Renascença, the socialist leader talks about a possible “reckoning” with the court and warns of risks of concentration of power.
According to Francisco César, the exclusion of the PS from appointing a judge to the TC represents a breach of the principle of plural representation in the organ. “The choice or appointment of judges for the TC must, at the very least, represent the plenary. We have three parties, not of equal size, but of similar size”, says the leader, who believes that the PSDB’s preference for Chega “embarrasses democracy”.
“It’s a strange choice. It seems that the PSD has scores to settle with the TC“, further accuses Francisco César, who believes that the Constitutional’s failures to several of the Passos Coelho Government’s austerity measures are one of the party’s motivations.
“Unable to change the constitutional text, try to change your interpretation. It is quite curious that this happens weeks after, unanimously, the TC forced Luís Montenegro to present the list of his clients. It’s curious”, he argues.
Francisco César even admits the risk of concentration of powers and abuse in the long term, if there is a significant change in the profile of the court’s judges. “What it seems to me is that there is an almost Trumpist attemptdespite being very disguised in its language, to try to make this happen. When we try to exclude the PS from a certain legislative dialogue or even from the choice for the TC, we should not be comfortable, because there are some similarities with what Donald Trump is doing in the USA”, he points out.
Regarding the PS’s future strategy, the Azorean leader rejects a stance of total blockade of the Government and argues that socialists must continue to dialogue on essential matters for the country, such as labor legislation or strategic areas such as justice and defense, as long as there are moderate proposals and space for consensus.
