Chega’s constitutional review project drags on in Parliament. IL demands explanations

Despite having already been delivered on May 7, Chega’s project has not yet been formally admitted, and the 30-day period for parties to present proposed amendments to the Constitution has not yet begun.

The constitutional review process launched by Chega remains at an impasse, after the Assembly of the Republic clarified that the legal deadline for presenting proposed amendments to the Constitution hasn’t started counting yet.

The position comes at a time when the Liberal Initiative accuses PSD, CDS and Chega of being deliberately postpone the debate about the review.

Chega’s constitutional review project was entered into Parliament on May 7, after several postponements announced by André Ventura. According to the Constitution, the remaining parties have 30 days to present alternative proposals after submitting a draft review. However, the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, has now clarified that this period only begins after the formal admission of the project.

In an order dated this Thursday, Aguiar-Branco maintains that the simple delivery of the document not enough to trigger the process legislative. According to the President of Parliament, it is first necessary to verify compliance with the constitutional and regulatory requirements for admissibility.

“The expression ‘presented a constitutional revision project’ should be understood as ‘presented and admitted‘”, states the order, adding that only an admitted project can be considered formally integrated into the constitutional review process.

The interpretation follows precedents from previous constitutional revisions. In 2022, for example, the first project presented by Chega only started within 30 days after your formal admissionsix days after entering Parliament. A similar situation occurred in 2020, during the parliamentary presidency of Ferro Rodrigues, recalls .

The decision comes after a request for clarification presented by the Liberal Initiative, which fear that the process will remain “in the drawer” due to a lack of political will to quickly move forward with constitutional revision. Liberals had challenged the PSD to take a clear position on changes to the Constitution, but Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has already indicated that he prefers refer the debate to the second half of the legislature.

André Ventura later reinforced this idea, stating that the review calendar would be defined together with the PSD. For IL, this political convergence could translate into a drag on the process.

“Ventura had already said that he could wait for the PSD, which wants to delay this, but there is no way to extend the deadline or suspend the process, just withdrawing the project. He didn’t do it and now the AR doesn’t admit the project”, says an IL source to Expresso.

Aguiar-Branco argues, however, that opening the deadline immediately after the project’s entry could create problems if the proposal were to be rejected outright for reasons of admissibility, compromising “the unity and coherence of the process”.