‘«Additional contributions from the banking sector to the Resolution Fund deemed unconstitutional. “It can snowball”» (with Alexandre Roque)

«The Portuguese Constitutional Court has ruled on a specific case; its decision is not generally binding and requires further rulings along the same lines. Alexandre Roque, a Partner in the Administrative and Environmental Law department at SRS Legal, tells Observador that this case could snowball. “Firstly, because, although it is not yet a declaration of unconstitutionality with general binding force, it is highly likely that in the pending legal proceedings against the CFR’s liquidation, covering the period from 2013 to 2017, the courts will follow this case law and annul the liquidations on the grounds of this unconstitutionality”. Furthermore, “if two further decisions are handed down by the Constitutional Court ruling on this unconstitutionality in specific cases, the unconstitutionality may be declared with general binding force, and it is unlikely that the Constitutional Court will restrict the effects of such a declaration of unconstitutionality (for example, it did not do so in the case of the surcharge on the banking sector)”. And “once unconstitutionality has been declared with general binding force, the courts will have to rule that the measures are unconstitutional in pending cases”.»