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1. The President of the Republic enacted today Parliamentary Decree No. 4/XI which, approved on 11 December, was received in the Presidency of the Republic on 21 December. This bill approves the first alteration to Law No. 110/2009, dated 16 September, (which approved the Code of Contributory Procedures of the Social Security Providential System), establishing a new date for its coming into force.

2. On 31 August 2009, when the bill which approved the Code of Contributory Procedures of the Social Security Providential System was enacted, the Presidency of the Republic issued an informative note (available in https://anibalcavacosilva.arquivo.presidencia.pt/?idc=10&idi=31404) in which reference was made to reservations and doubts concerning the scope of the application of that bill. This note equally underlined the relevance and potential qualities of the Code in question. And it ended considering that the enactment was justified after weighing all the interests at issue (amongst which the positive aspects of the Code were identified) “especially considering that the long transition period foreseen and the lengthy delay for its coming into force would allow an adequate follow up of the solutions now approved or even to reconsider the opportunity of the Code’s entry into force, as well as the correction of eventual inadequacies which might meanwhile be recognized.”. The referred note was published at a moment when, due to the proximity of legislative elections, it would be normally difficult to anticipate the Parliamentary composition which would carry out such a review.

3. This review has now been carried out by Parliament, which decided to defer the entry into force of the Code of Contributory Procedures of the Social Security Providential System until 1 January 2001. As referred with regard to the enactment of the Law which approved this Code “the enactment of a legal bill does not necessarily mean the agreement of the President of the Republic with the underlying political options, neither does it imply his institutional commitment to all the legal solutions contained therein”. This reference, formulated in the context of the enactment of the Code of Contributory Procedures, maintains the same relevance.

4. The enactment of this bill does not hinder the Government from re-launching, whenever it so deems opportune, the discussion of the Code of Contributory Procedures of the Social Security Providential System, introducing the improvements it considers adequate and opening the possibility of a full discussion with the political parties represented in Parliament. Such a negotiation could, eventually, alter the entry into force of a new version of the Code.

5. The adjournment of the entry into force of the Code of Contributory Procedures of the Social Security Providential System does equally not exclude the adoption of legislative provisions which, anticipating some of the foreseen reforms, may even partially compensate the financial effects deriving from the procedures contained in this Code. Specifically, there is no hindrance for the Government to include in the proposal for the 2010 State Budget the changes which it considers necessary to the procedures, submitting these to the negotiation pertaining to the budgetary legislation.