“This is the desire that I formulate, the desire that I express, in this first hour, uncertain as all first hours are: that we know how to be worthy of ourselves, providing the country with a Constitution that, in essence, can stand the test of time”, appealed Henrique de Barros, president of the Constituent Assembly, on June 2, 1975.
The deputies who listened to him, elected in the first free elections in Portugal, had a mission: to draft the country’s most important law, the basis of which would last until today.
About ten months later, the would end up being approved, only with the CDS voting againstbreaking the unanimous favorable votes of the PS, PPD, PCP, MDP/CDE, UDP and ADIM.
The work session on April 2, 1976 was long: it started at 9:45 am and only ended at 10:50 pm, according to the Constituent Assembly diaries, after the Fundamental Law was promulgated by the President of the Republic, Francisco da Costa Gomes, in plenary. “Vibrant”, “prolonged, standing” applause was heard and the National Anthem was sung.
A Constitution was the result of 132 plenary sessionswhich took up almost 500 hours, and 327 sessions of the 12 special commissions created at the time.
A law came into force on April 25, 1976 and established basic principles of the current democratic regime, such as the separation of powers, universal suffrage, as well as fundamental rights such as the right to life, personal integrity, freedom of expression, housing, health or education, among many others.
Its preamble recalls that “the Armed Forces Movement, crowning the long resistance of the Portuguese people and interpreting their deep feelings, overthrew the fascist regime” and establishes as its objective “to ensure the primacy of the democratic rule of law and pave the way for a socialist society, respecting the will of the Portuguese people, with a view to building a freer, more just and more fraternal country”.
The construction of the Constitution took place during a very turbulent period for the country, post-revolutionary, with strong political and social tension in the streets.
The asides recorded in the diaries of the Constituent Assembly are a reflection of this, with accusations ranging from “fascist”, “torch”, “reactionary”, “social-fascist”, “Nazi”, “salazarento”, “cacique”, “jurist”, “bear”, “clown” or “bourgeois”.
In July 75, the MFA Assembly approved the “guide document of the People-MFA Alliance”, which provides for the creation of a popular National Assembly, without reference to parties, and consecrates the Revolution Council as the “maximum body of national sovereignty”. This document was strongly contested by PS, PPD and CDS and, in response, about a month later, the group of nine moderate military officers led by Melo Antunes prepared the “Document of Nine”, defending democratic pluralism.
One of the most tense moments of this period was the siege of the Assembly, between November 12th and 13th, 1975. Thousands of protestersthe vast majority of construction workers, prevented deputies from leaving parliament for 36 hours, as well as the head of Government, Pinheiro de Azevedowhich was in the prime minister’s official residence, adjacent to the São Bento Palace.
The deputies even considered moving the work to Porto, but that did not happen.
On April 2, 76, Henrique de Barros closed the work of the Constituent Assembly by resuming his initial appeal, “only changing, as required, the tense of the verb, and without taking sides in the dispute over the conditions of constitutional revision”: “May we have known how to be worthy of ourselves, providing our homeland with a Constitution that, in its essence, knows how to stand the test of time.” Fifty years later, the text remains.
Constitutional text has been revised seven times since 1976
The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic has been revised seven times since its approval, with more structural and other more surgical changes, related to adherence to international treaties.
The Fundamental Law enshrined numerous fundamental rights that remain today, but the current text is the result of seven amendments.
In 1976, the Constitution established the transition to socialism, based on the nationalization of the main means of production and maintained the participation of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) in the exercise of political power, through the Revolution Council, which had among its functions monitoring the constitutionality of laws, for example.
After a transitional period, the deputies amended the Basic Law for the first time in 1982highlighting the extinction of the Revolutionary Council and the creation of the Constitutional Court and the State Council.
This first revision aimed to reduce the ideological burden of the text, make the economic system more flexible and redefine the structures for the exercise of political power, ending the military dimension of the regime.
Em 1989there was a new constitutional review, which abolished the principle of irreversibility of nationalizations directly carried out after April 25, 1974.
Reprivatizations can now be carried out with approval by an absolute majority of deputies.
The Constitution began to foresee the possibility of referendums and references to the concept of “agrarian reform” were eliminated, now referring to “elimination of large estates and reorganization of smallholdings”.
As 1992 and 1997 revisions They essentially aimed to adapt the constitutional text to the principles of the European Union, Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties.
These revisions also enshrined other changes, relating to the electoral capacity of foreign citizens, the creation of single-member constituencies in legislative circles became possible, the right of citizens to legislative initiative was established and the exclusive legislative powers of the Assembly of the Republic were reinforced, among other changes.
Em 2001the Constitution was revised again to allow the ratification of the Convention that created the International Criminal Court, changing the extradition rules.
Three years later, in 2004a new review to deepen the political-administrative autonomy of the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira, increasing the powers of the respective Legislative Assemblies and eliminating the position of “Minister of the Republic”, creating that of “Representative of the Republic”.
This review deepened the principle of term limits, particularly for those holding executive political positions, and introduced the right to non-discrimination based on sexual orientation, in addition to clarifying rules regarding the validity of European Union treaties and norms in the internal legal order.
Em 2005a seventh constitutional review allowed the holding of a referendum on the approval of a treaty aimed at the construction and deepening of the European Union.
The constitutional text has not been changed for more than twenty years, even though deputies have tried, either through proposals that did not take off or processes that ‘fell’ midway.
In 2010, Parliament began an ordinary review process that was not completed due to early elections being called.
In 2021, Chega moved forward with a project, but the process ended very quickly as all changes were rejected.
Between 2022 and 2024, Parliament began a new process, in which all parties participated, but the work would come to a halt again due to the dissolution of Parliament.
