"Government fakes parliamentary negotiations and tries to change taxes by decree" (with José Luís Moreira da Silva)

«‘The legislative process for a request for authorisation is much quicker, it can happen in a week instead of months, because only three articles are debated and voted on (object, meaning and duration) while in a bill, all the points of the matter to be changed are examined, as happened with the IRS,’ explains constitutionalist José Luís Moreira da Silva, speaking to ECO. In addition, ‘the opposition cannot present autonomous bills, as happened in the context of the discussion of the government's bill to lower the IRS,’ he adds.

In this way, the government avoids the possibility that Parliament will end up approving an opposition bill, as happened with the personal income tax. José Luís Moreira da Silva, who was also a PSD member of Parliament in the 1980s and 1990s, concludes that the tactic now ‘is to evade parliamentary negotiation’. "The PSD had a strategy: to approve measures and sit down at the table to negotiate with the opposition in Parliament.As it's not working, it's adopting the Cavaco Silva model of 1985, also in the minority, because it doesn't have a solid majority in Parliament."As it's not working, it's adopting the Cavaco Silva model of 1985, also a minority, because it doesn't have a solid majority in Parliament."As it's not working, it's adopting the Cavaco Silva model of 1985, also a minority, because it doesn't have a solid majority in Parliament,‘ he emphasises.’As it's not working, it's adopting the Cavaco Silva model of 1985, also a minority, because it doesn't have a solid majority in Parliament,‘ he emphasises.»