The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, considered today that the Portuguese constitutional and legal regime was not designed for pandemic situations and suggested today that in the future it will have to be adapted.
The head of state spoke to journalists at the Palace of Belém, in Lisbon, about the legal doubts about restrictive rights measures that have been adopted by the Government in the current context of the 19-covid pandemic, such as the restriction of movement between municipalities.
“I know that there is a concern, which I also have, obviously, if I were not a jurist and a professor of Constitutional Law, that it is necessary to frame the various measures in what we have as a constitutional and legal regime, which was not designed for this. It was not. And there was no time to change it, “he said.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that meanwhile “there could have been, on the initiative of some political party in terms of revising the Constitution or revising the law in these months, the introduction of adjustments”, but “the pandemic continued and, therefore, in the middle of pandemic there was no such opportunity “.
“In the future it will be seen how it adapts what we have to situations as specific as a pandemic”, he added.
The President of the Republic defended that “in this context, it was necessary to use the instruments, tools” available, and “in some cases the jurists understand that they were used with more purpose, in others with less purpose, in some with greater appropriateness, in others with less appropriateness” .
“In any case, as you know, the final decision rests with the courts,” said the head of state.
In his view, however, “in the middle of a pandemic it is not by chance that there was not much recourse to court, because people felt that there were reasons of urgency and urgency that justified the measures”.
According to the President of the Republic, “the Government will consider all these observations and try to find the way”.
Restriction of movement between municipalities is “aggravated recommendation”
Then, the head of state referred that one of the “measures that raise doubts” is the government resolution that determines the ban on movement between different counties in the continental territory between 00:00 this Friday and 23:59 next Tuesday market.
“To what extent should the adopted form be different from the one adopted at this time? I would remind you that it is a measure with a very high number of exceptions and that it is being applied to your framework with a very large tolerance, which means that it is almost an aggravated recommendation, rather than an imposition accompanied by the application of sanctions “, he maintained.
According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, when deciding on the measures to be adopted in the current context of the pandemic of covid-19 “one always weighs the rights, freedoms and guarantees on the one hand, and on the other hand life and health”, using the instruments available in the Portuguese constitutional and legal regime.
“It is good that the Portuguese realize that we are aware of these problems. We are. Trying to fit the measures that need to be taken in the existing schemes. And, on the other hand, without much time,” he added.
The President of the Republic also admitted coming to speak to the country next week, after the Prime Minister announced to the Portuguese on Saturday a roadmap of measures to contain the spread of the covid-19.
“He explained his ideas to me. He will hear about these ideas from political parties tomorrow [sexta-feira]. Will gather a advice [de Ministros] extraordinary on Saturday. He will speak to the country on Saturday to say the measures to which the Government points and the roadmap for these measures “, he said.
“And then I will eventually admit saying something to the country in the course of next week”, added the head of state.
More than four thousand. Country records the highest number of daily covid-19 cases
This Thursday, Portugal surpassed 4000 daily cases of infection with the new coronavirus, registering 4224 new cases, according to the epidemiological bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), which also counts 33 more deaths associated with the covid-19 disease.
According to the bulletin released by DGS, Portugal, which today has the highest number of new cases since the beginning of the pandemic, accounts for a total of 132 616 confirmed cases of infection with the new coronavirus and 2428 deaths.
Regarding hospitalizations, the number of hospitalized people has continued to rise for more than a week, now being 1834 people, 40 more than on Wednesday, of which 269 (seven more) are in Intensive Care Units.
Of the 33 deaths recorded, 16 occurred in the North region, 12 in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and five in the Center region.
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