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PSD calls for widespread constitutional reform Portugal’s main opposition PSD party (Social-Democrats, centre-right) is working on a project to reform the country’s Constitution, including major changes on health, education and employment policy, and on the workings of the political system.
In a draft of the PSD’s reform proposals, made public by Lusa News Agency this week, the Social-Democrats keep the current constitutional obligation of a “general and universal national health service”, but omit the expression “typically free”. This draft is yet to be voted on by the PSD’s national committee. Likewise, in education, the PSD removes the state’s obligation of “a public system” that is “progressively free in every school level”. In employment, the PSD leaves out a ban on firings “with no just cause”, substituting that expression with “no acceptable cause”. The Social Democrats’ draft proposal also includes a ban on individuals who have been convicted of crimes to hold public offices. PSD president Pedro Passos Coelho spoke during a Monday night speech of his party’s “daring constitutional reform project”, that is not “aimed at the current [Socialist] government, nor at the current parliament, nor at the current President”, but instead is “geared towards the next 15 to 20 years of Portuguese society”. Constitutional reform must be approved by a two-thirds majority of Parliament. The first political reaction to the PSD’s constitutional reform bid came from the Communist Party, who derided the proposal as “very disturbing” and aimed at “dismantling the constitutional democratic regime” TPN/Lusa.
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