"Government/demission: Pension, civil service and SMN increases can go ahead - experts" (with José Luís Moreira da Silva)

«José Luís Moreira da Silva, Partner at SRS Legal, emphasises that the Constitution "has the key words on restricting the powers of governments in two situations: before the approval of government programmes in the Assembly of the Republic (AR) and after the resignation of the government", "but it is very vague on the powers of day-to-day management, saying that the government will limit itself to acts that are strictly necessary to ensure the management of public affairs".
The lawyer points out that "what has been learnt from practice and the interpretations of the Constitutional Court (TC) is that the caretaker government is not prevented from passing laws, but it is restricted to situations of necessity, i.e. situations that would be jeopardised if they were left only after elections for the new government".
"In light of this, it seems that the government will still be able to approve the new value of the National Minimum Wage and pensions. The question is whether these measures could be seen as electioneering," says José Luís Moreira da Silva.»