The sad news came at the end of the day yesterday. May 7the government was considering an amendment in parliament to allow managing partners and self-employed entrepreneurs to benefit from financial assistance in addition to that provided by social security under covid-19.

Portuguese President rejects aid to managing partners and self-employed entrepreneurs

The final blow fell late yesterday, and was delivered by the President of the Portuguese Republic himself. On Tuesday, the President of the Portuguese Republic vetoed the amendment proposed by Parliament to extend extraordinary social support to the managers of micro and small businesses and to sole traders, citing a constitutional doubt that could possibly be a violation of the "Labor Code".

In the letter addressed to Parliament, published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa states that "this expansion - which is, moreover, socially relevant - has raised, however, doubts about constitutionality, due to a possible violation of the "labor code" . Above all, this amendment could lead to a substantial increase in spending in the 2020 state budget".

The Head of State then considers that "the rectifying finance bill for 2020, which is currently under discussion in the Assembly of the Republic, could possibly overcome this objection to constitutionality", and furthermore stresses that "the deadline for submitting proposed amendments, in order to be debated and virtually accepted by the government, will only end tomorrow today".

The President of the Portuguese Republic is therefore forcing the government to move forward on this measure, as the Labor Code also cannot accept that the supplementary budget contains measures that distort the intentions of the initial state budget for 2020.

From our personal point of view, we doubt very much that this amendment will pass, bearing in mind that this project was originally a "suggestion" from the opposition. Moreover, it's important to remember that the government, through the social security system, has still not paid for the aid linked to the covid-19 The reason for this delay in payment of more than 2 months is simple. The coffers are empty.