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MEDIA RELEASE |
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Communications |
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Réf. DC 055(2021) Portugal: Some progress in implementing Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body’s pending recommendations in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors Strasbourg, 12.04.2021 – In a report published today, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption group (GRECO) concludes that Portugal has achieved some progress in complying with the recommendations in respect of members of parliaments, judges and prosecutors. (see the French and Portuguese versions of the report) The report evaluates the implementation of the 15 recommendations which GRECO issued to the country in a report adopted in 2015. Portugal has now fully complied with three recommendations. Seven recommendations have been partially implemented and five remain not implemented. As regards Members of Parliament, GRECO welcomes the entry into force of the package of laws which forms part of an ambitious reform launched by Portugal to heighten transparency, bolster the integrity, and enhance the accountability of a wide range of public office holders, including MPs. Nevertheless, several shortcomings persist. Although the code of conduct for MPs has been adopted and fills many of the gaps in the integrity regime, it has not, for example, properly tackled the scope of permissible contacts between MPs and third parties or established sanctions for improper acts. Similarly, although MPs’ declarations of income, assets and interests are now accessible online, the independent Authority for Transparency attached to the Constitutional Court, responsible for their assessment, remains to be set up and regular and substantive checks within a reasonable time of MPs’ declarations are to be foreseen by law. Furthermore, the legislation does not provide for adequate sanctions for minor breaches of MPs´ asset reporting obligation, and an evaluation and impact assessment of the effectiveness of the conflicts of interest prevention system for MPs does not appear to have been carried out. In respect of judges, the revised Statute of Magistrates has established a new legal framework governing the re-allocation of cases and the re-assignment of judges, which is now consistent and underpinned by criteria aimed at safeguarding judges’ independence. It also provides for the selection of appeal court judges by a panel of which half the members are judges chosen by their peers. The same principle, however, does not apply to the selection of Supreme Court judges. Likewise, the revised Statute of Magistrates, while containing some general principles, does not amount to a fully-fledged clear and enforceable code of conduct for judges, covering issues such as gifts and conflicts of interest. Periodic evaluations of judges still requires attention and to comply with the standards of conduct. Also, the composition of judicial councils as guarantors of judicial independence has not been enhanced. While steps are under way to ensure that first instance court decisions are published online in an easily accessible and searchable manner, adequate resources are to be secured for the new ECLI database. With regard to prosecutors, a positive achievement has been the entry into force of the revised Statute of the Public Prosecution (PPS) providing for the restructuring of the PPS to correspond to the organisation of the judiciary. The process to establish a code of professional conduct, which is still at an early stage, needs to be re-enforced to provide clear, enforceable and publicly available standards for professional conduct, also in order to underpin the evaluation of prosecutors. GRECO has requested that the Portuguese authorities report back on the implementation of the pending recommendations by 31 March 2022. * * * The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) is a Council of Europe body that aims to improve the capacity of its members to fight corruption by monitoring their compliance with anti-corruption standards. It helps states to identify deficiencies in national anti-corruption policies, prompting the necessary legislative, institutional and practical reforms. Currently it comprises the 47 Council of Europe member states, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the United States of America. |
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Press Contact |
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Jaime Rodriguez, Spokesperson/Media officer, Tel. +33 6 89 99 50 42 |
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Council of Europe, Media Assistance Unit |
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