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The President of the Republic decided not to enact the Parliamentary decree which introduced the first alteration to Law No. 6/94, dated 7 April (State Secret).
Concerning this decision the Presidency of the Republic published the following communiqué:
1 – The President of the Republic decided, in the terms of article No. 136 of the Constitution, not to enact the Parliamentary decree which introduced the first alteration to Law No. 6/94, dated 7 April (State Secret).
2 – The President of the Republic considered, essentially, that this decree contained legal measures which, in such a sensitive matter, affected the balance which must exist between the powers of the State, specifically through attributing to an internal Parliamentary body – which, in addition, would no longer be an independent body – great latitude in the management of matters classified as a State secret, thus allowing it, on its own initiative, to declassify documents which had been classified by titular heads of other sovereign bodies.
3 – By overlapping the political assessment of the worthiness of a security classification decided by bodies such as the President of the Republic, the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister or Ministers, the committee in question would become invested with competences which, in extreme circumstances, could affect activities of such relevance as the supreme command of the Armed Forces or the conduct of international policies, from which risks could equally result for the safeguard of the State secret itself and for the superior national interests that it aims to preserve.
Click here to read the full text of the Message the President of the Republic addressed to Parliament
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