PROCEDURE
On
3 October 1997, the government introduced the proposal for a resolution
to hold a referendum into the parliament. However, the subject of
the referendum question was not exactly whether to ratify the Amsterdam
Treaty, but whether Portugal should continue to participate in the
EU after the results of the Amsterdam Summit. The parliamentary
opposition introduced competing proposals containing different formulations.
On 29 June 1998, the parliament accepted a revised resolution based
on the government’s proposal (Res. No. 36-A/98). On 8 July
the president decided to hold the referendum and
submitted the proposal to the Constitutional Court. In its decision
756/98 of 29 July, the Court decided that the wording of the question
was “not formulated in objective terms, and clearly and precisely”
(Art. 115 (6)). Thus, the referendum took not place, and ratification
followed Art. 161 (i). The government introduced a proposal for
a resolution to accept the treaty via parliamentary ratification
(Res. No. 118/VII). On 6 January 1999 nearly 90% of the parliamentarians
voted for the resolution. |
