Filipe Amorim / LUSA
Luis Montenegro welcomes José Luis Carneiro
The executive accuses the PS of blackmail by threatening to fail the State Budget due to the controversy surrounding appointments to the Constitutional Court.
The Government of Luís Montenegro is seeking avoid a political rupture with the Socialist Party (PS), despite tensions surrounding the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Court (TC).
Executive sources heard by the executive consider the socialist threat of cutting off institutional dialogue to be “nonsense” if they cannot indicate one of the names, classifying it as a form of “blackmail” which ignores the current parliamentary composition.
According to the Government and the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the strategy involves maintaining open channels with all the main political forces, including Chega and the Liberal Initiative (IL), avoiding favoring any partner. The executive even emphasizes that the proposals being negotiated for the external bodies of the Assembly of the Republic guarantee the PS representation that exceeds its electoral weight.
The controversy intensified after statements by socialist leaders. Mariana Vieira da Silva admitted that the exclusion of the PS from indications for the TC could open a “new phase” in political relations, pointing out to the PSD the responsibility for a possible rupture. Francisco César also accuses the PSD of wanting to appoint more right-wing judges and politicizing the court. The social democratic parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, appealed to “modesty” while negotiations are underway, ensuring that the dialogue was never interrupted.
At the center of the conflict is the PSD’s intention to change the historical practice of understanding with the PS in choosing TC judges. Based on the electoral results, the Social Democrats argue that the Chega must nominate one of the three judges missing, leaving the rest under the influence of the right. For socialists, this solution breaks the traditional balance and threatens the neutrality of the court.
The leader of the PS, José Luís Carneiro, had already warned that “”, after several attempts at dialogue and ignored letters in areas such as health and defense. Even so, the PS admits that it will not oppose a Chega nomination, as long as it is not excluded from the process.
