On December 15, 2006, the Presidency of the Republic received, to enact as an organic law, Decree No. 94/X issued in Parliament, approving the Law on Regional Finance.
The referred legislation was the target of several juridical/constitutional criticisms, and the Social Democratic Party requested from the Constitutional Court, in the terms of Article No. 278 (nos. 4&6) of the Constitution of the Republic, the preventive verification of constitutionality of the provisions contained in Articles Nos. 2, 3, 7 (no.5), 19 (no.1), 35, 36, 37 (nos. 2 to 7), 38 (nos. 2&3), 57, 62 (no.1), and 66 of that same decree.
The Constitutional Court, by Sentence No. 11/2007, decided it would not issue any pronouncement as to the lack of constitutionality of such provisions.
In this context, and since the various doubts regarding the constitutionality of the Law on Regional Finance, placed by the executive bodies of the own government of the Madeira Autonomous Region, had been dispelled, the President of the Republic decided, after careful consideration of the various vested interests, to enact Decree No. 94/X.
This decision was taken in accordance with the understanding that the President of the Republic holds, and has demonstrated on other occasions, of the act of enacting, to which adds, in the case under consideration, that the executive bodies of the own governments of the autonomous regions have the competent means to challenge, in the Constitutional Court, the provisions of the Law on Regional Finance, be it on the grounds of breaching the rights of the regions, be it for breaching the respective political-administrative statute.
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