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Political Supervision |
In its roles as guarantor of democracy and
the rule of law and supervisory body par excellence, the Assembly
of the Republic has several political scrutiny instruments
at its disposal.
The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and the Rules
of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic both make provision
for two legal formats – the Question
and the Request
– which Members of the Assembly of the Republic can
use to call on the Government and the Public Administration,
which are then legally obliged to respond within a period
of thirty days. Members can either pose direct questions,
or ask for clarifications about any of a whole range of issues,
such as the current status of a given works project, or the
respective call for tenders, or which public or private entity
has been awarded the contract to build a hospital, school
or any other social facility... Members are entitled
to receive any data, information and official publications
that they consider useful to the exercise of their mandate
from the organs of any public entity, although Government
or Public Administration acts concerning matters covered by
the law on state secrets are excluded.
In addition, the rules on Parliamentary
Inquiries permit close supervision of the work of the
executive branch of government, by granting Committees of
Inquiry the power to requisition all the documentation concerning
a given issue or specific proceedings. They can also summon
members of the Government or any other citizens whom they
believe to be in possession of facts or information that are
useful to finding out the truth. Once the decision to hold
an inquiry has been taken, an ad hoc committee is formed,
assesses whether a de facto situation complies with the Constitution
and the law, and considers the acts of the Government and
the Public Administration in relation to that situation. A
parliamentary inquiry must be held if one fifth of the Members
of the Assembly of the Republic in full exercise of their
office ask for one; parliamentary groups, committees or individual
Members can also take the initiative of asking for an inquiry.
Inquiries must be conducted within 180 days, although the
Plenary of the Assembly of the Republic can grant an extension
of a further 90 days. In addition to the specific powers given
to them by law, parliamentary committees of inquiry enjoy
the investigative powers of the judicial authorities, except
for those that are exclusively reserved to the latter by the
Constitution.
Petitions
are another way of scrutinising the acts of the Government
and the Public Administration. This method is available to
citizens, who, subject to fulfilment of the requirements laid
down in the Law governing the Exercise of the Right of Petition
(Law no. 45/2007 of 24 August 2007), can address petitions
to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, for consideration
by the parliamentary committee(s) with responsibility for
the matter in question. If a petition is signed by more than
4,000 citizens, it can even ask that a given matter of interest
be considered by the Plenary itself.
Calls
on the Government are a political prerogative of parliamentary
groups, which can use them to oblige members of the Government
to attend the Assembly. The idea is that in the ensuing debate
in the Plenary, members of the government can be confronted
with criticisms of their general or sectoral policy. Each
parliamentary group has the right to use this mechanism to
bring about two debates in each legislative session.
Motions
are another important instrument for the exercise of political
scrutiny. They take the following forms:
- A
motion of no confidence, which aims to censure the way
in which the Government’s Programme is being implemented
or a matter of important national interest is being managed.
A motion of no confidence can be made by one quarter of
all the Members of the Assembly of the Republic in full
exercise of their office, or by any parliamentary group.
Its passage requires an absolute majority of all the Members
in full exercise of their office and will cause the Government
to resign.
- A
motion of confidence, which asks
for the passage of a vote of confidence in relation to a
statement of general policy or a matter of important national
interest. Such motions are made by the Government, and their
simple rejection leads to the latter’s resignation.
- A
motion to reject the Government’s Programme, which
only parliamentary groups have the right to make. Passage
again requires an absolute majority of all the Members in
full exercise of their office, and will cause the Government
to resign.
The debate on the Government’s
Programme – a text containing the Government’s
most important political guidelines and the measures it will
be taking or proposing in the different areas of governance
– is of the greatest importance where political scrutiny
is concerned. The Programme must be submitted for consideration
by the Assembly of the Republic within ten days of the Prime
Minister’s appointment, and is discussed in plenary,
in a debate which cannot last more than three days. At any
time until the end of the debate, any parliamentary group
can propose that the Programme be rejected, and the Government
can ask for a vote of confidence.
At the end of each calendar year, the Assembly
of the Republic has a means of exercising effective control
over the Executive, when it considers and approves or rejects
the General State Accounts. This is a document that is drawn
up by the Government and contains all the figures for the
state’s income and expenditure. It also includes a report
and general statements of account, groups of accounts and
other information. Once approved, the General State Accounts
are published in the official journal – the Diário
da República. |