Portugal

## General Information about the Policy Process

The process of transposition and implementation in Portugal usually begins when the Directorate General for European Affairs ("DGAE") checks for a new Directive which was published on JOUE.

When there is a new directive, DGAE creates a new register on a database of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with the deadline of transposition and the ministry with the competence, if it is a matter that does not fall in the exclusive competence of the of the national parliament.

Thus, when a ministry accepts the competence to transpose, the planification phase starts. In this phase, the competent ministry organizes diligences such as mandatory consultancies of other ministries and decides the most suitable national normative act / legislative act (mandatory when there is a matter that falls under the competence of the Parliament) to transpose the act of the Union.

Then, it takes place in the transposition phase by monitoring the effective transposition of the directive.

Finally, when the national normative act is published, DGAE communicates the MNE to the Commission in order to complete the procedure.

Portugal has made a significant effort in transpositions.

In 2021, Portugal got the best result ever by having a 0,1% transposition deficit on the Internal Market Scoreboard.

### The *Assembleia da República*

In the area of European affairs, the *Assembleia da República* carries out action in 3 levels:

1. Political supervision the Government.
2. Process of scrutiny over European decision-making process.
3. Participation in interpaliamentary cooperation with the national parliaments of the Member States and the European Parliament.

### The European Affairs Committee

The *Assembleia da República*'s website offers and extensive list of the responsibilities attributed to the European Affairs Committee, which are summarized in the following points:

* Monitoring and considering the action of the Government on matters related to the position of Portugal in the construction of Europe, its institutions and the cooperation with the Member States of European Union.
* Promoting the involvement of the *Assembleia* in the work of European institutions, bodies and agencies.
* Promoting interparliamentary cooperation in the context of the Protocol on the role of national parliaments and the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionaly associated with the European Union's adopted treaties.
* Monitoring and assessing the country's involvement in the construction of the European Union.
* Promoting hearings with the Government before and after European Council meetings.
* Preparing and approving opinions on documents that the Government submits to the *Assembleia da República* concerning the European Union or that it is obliged to submit to European Union institutions.
* Engaging with the *Assembleia* towards matters falling in its exclusive legislative competence that depend on decisions by bodies of the EU.
* Collaborating with the other committees with responsibility for the matter in question in the monitoring and follow-up of dossiers in the context of the process of constructing the European Union;
* Contributing to the efficient intervention by the *Assembleia da República* by affiliating with the specialised committees.
* Guaranteeing the process methodolgy for drawing up reports and opinions on compliance according to the with the principle of subsidiarity by draft legislative acts of the European Union.
* Presenting draft resolutions on draft European acts of a normative nature to be submitted to the Plenary for consideration and decision.
* In light of the principal of the subsidiarity, promting the annual meeting with the Legislative Assemblies of the Autonomous Regions.
* Making proposals for the Portuguese representatives in the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC).
* Engaging in the delegation of the *Assembleia* to the Inter-parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defense Policy (CFSP/CSDP) and to the Interparliamentary Conference on Economic and Financial Governance of the European Union.
* Participating with input on the selection of candidates for the offices of a non-judicial and judicial nature in the entitites of the European Union.
* Intervening for the contribution of a public space for voicing concerns and opinions of national civil society representatives on European matters.

### Main National Actors

* Government / Ministries
* European Affairs Committee
* National Parliament

## The Levels of Governance in Portugal

As an asymmetrical regionalised State, Portugal is composed by three levels of governance:

1. Central
2. Regional, namely the two Autonomous Regions of Azores and Madeira.
3. Local, which includes municipalities, parishes, intermunicipal entities, associations of parishes and municipalities and local public companies.

### Central Level

The public administration is ran by the Central Government and implements the policy of the State. This level is responsible for the legislative power in all fields, general national sovereignty powers and administritive powers outside the local authorities jurisdiction.

### Regional level

Each Autonomous Region has a Regional Government and a Legislative Assembly, which translates into independent legislative power and its own legal framework. Thus, several policy areas fall within the responsibilities of the Autonomous Regions, including natural resources, transportation, commercial and industrial development, urbanism and regional planning and agricultural and fisheries development.

### Local level

#### Municipalities

The municipal assembly is the deliberative body which oversees the municipal council as the executive body. Municipalities are responsible for all areas such as infrastructure, energy, transportation, communications, education, health, housing and several other up to external cooperation.

#### Parishes

From the parish assembly, the executivebody is elected. Once more, parishes comprise responsibilities over the various areas, and have duties towards the planning, management and investments in the cases and in accordance with the law.

#### Intermunicipal entities

These have the same areas of responsibility as the municipalities, which can delegate specific tasks to these entities.

## Decentralization index of Portugal

The European Committee of the Regions offers and interactive tool in which "the Index allows for observing the degree of decentralisation within a country at local and regional levels, as well as for a comparison among Member States". The overall decentralization score is 1.6 for local level and 1.8 for regional level. In terms of administrative decentralization, the score is 1.6 at local level and 1.7 at local level which are more influenced by the low availability of human resources. In terms of political decentralization, the scores improve for 2.0 and 2.4 for local and regional levels, respectively.

## References

Assembleia da República. (n.d.). *Standing committees: European Affairs Committee*. Assembleia Da República. Retrieved October 30, 2023, from https://www.parlamento.pt/sites/EN/Committees/Paginas/Committees-Standing-Legislature.aspx

*CoR -    Portugal intro*. (n.d.). https://portal.cor.europa.eu/divisionpowers/Pages/Portugal-intro.aspx

European Committee of the Regions. (n.d.). *Division of powers: Decentralization index*. Retrieved October 30, 2023, from https://portal.cor.europa.eu/divisionpowers/Pages/Decentralization-Index.aspx

Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros & Direção-Geral dos Assuntos Europeus. (2014). Manual de Boas Práticas para a Negociação, Transposição e Aplicação de Legislação da União Europeia. In *Governo De Portugal | Ministério Dos Negócios Estrangeiros*. Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros. Retrieved October 30, 2023, from https://www.historico.portugal.gov.pt/pt/o-governo/arquivo-historico/governos-constitucionais/gc19/os-ministerios/mne/documentos-oficiais/20140918-manual-de-transposicao-diretivas.aspx

*Direção-Geral dos Assuntos Europeus - ePortugal.gov.pt*. (n.d.). https://eportugal.gov.pt/entidades/direcao-geral-dos-assuntos-europeus