Abstract
The Portuguese Constitutional Court (CC) played a pivotal role during the financial crisis that hit Portugal hard after 2008, especially during an international bailout that prevented the country’s bankruptcy. The strict conditionality imposed by the Memorandum of Understanding commanded national policies aimed at a sharp expenditure reduction that were brought under constitutional review by both political and legal litigants. The invalidation of some of these policies and the fiscal gap created by the rulings took by surprise not only the executive and the legislature but also the international institutions involved in the financial assistance programme. In this chapter I address the role of the CC during the financial crisis. I claim that the Government should have taken seriously the risk posed by the Constitution and its judicial interpretation to the financial assistance program. I also address the Court’s action in a comparative perspective. I conclude that the Court’s bold case law may present not only a future risk to the institution but also a shield of protection against temptations to restrict its scope of action.
The research leading to this chapter has been funded by the German Research Foundation/Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in the framework of the Emmy-Noether-Project on “Transnational Solidarity Conflicts” at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Almeida Ribeiro, G. d., & Pereira Coutinho, L. (Eds.) (2014). O Tribunal Constitucional e a Crise: Ensaios Críticos. Coimbra: Almedina.
Amaral, M. L. (2012). Competências complementares do Tribunal Constitucional português. In Estudos em Homenagem ao Prof. Doutor José Joaquim Gomes Canotilho (Vol. II, pp. 43–55). Coimbra: Coimbra Editora.
Araújo, A., and Magalhães, P. (2000). A justiça constitucional: uma instituição contra as maiorias? Análise Social XXXV(154–155), 207–246.
Balodis, R., and Pleps, J. (2013). Financial Crisis and the Constitution in Latvia. In X. Contiades (Ed.), Constitutions in the Global Financial Crisis. A Comparative Analysis. Farnham: Ashgate.
Blanco de Morais, C. (2014). Curso de Direito Constitucional—Teoria da Constituição em tempo de crise do Estado social. Coimbra: Coimbra Editora.
Canotilho, M. (2018). Constitutional Law and Crisis: The Portuguese Constitutional Court under pressure? In Z. Szente & F. Gárdos-Orosz (Eds.). New Challenges to Constitutional Adjudication in Europe—A Comparative Perspective (pp. 144–163). London: Routledge.
Canotilho, M., Violante, T., & Lanceiro, R. (2015). Austerity Measures Under Judicial Scrutiny: The Portuguese Constitutional Case Law. European Constitutional Law Review, 11, 155–183.
Cappelletti, M. (1980). The Mighty Problem of Judicial Review and the Contribution of Comparative Analysis. Southern California Law Review 53, 409–445.
Cisotta, R. and Gallo, D. (2014). The Portuguese Constitutional Court Case Law on Austerity Measures: A Reappraisal. In C. Kilpatrick & B. de Witte (Eds.), Social Rights in Times of Crisis in the Eurozone: The Role of Fundamental Rights’ Challenges (EUI Working Papers, 2014/05). At http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/31247.
Contiades, X. (Ed.). (2013). Constitutions in the Global Financial Crisis. A Comparative Analysis. Farnham: Ashgate.
Contiades, X., & Tassopoulos, I. A. (2013). The Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Greek Constitution. In X. Contiades (Ed.), Constitutions in the Global Financial Crisis. A Comparative Analysis. Farnham: Ashgate.
Coroado, S., Garoupa, N., & Magalhães, P. (2017). Judicial Behavior Under Austerity. An Empirical Analysis of Behavioral Changes in the Portuguese Constitutional Court, 2002–2016. Journal of Law and Courts, Fall, 2017, 289–311.
Fabbrini, F. (2014). The Euro-Crisis and the Courts: Judicial Review and the Political Process in Comparative Perspective. Berkeley Jounral of International Law Publicist (online) 32(1), 101–160.
Faraguna, P. (2016). The Economic Crisis as a Threat to the Stability of Law. Recent Developments in the Case Law of the Italian Constitutional Court. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 8, 249–270.
Galvão Teles, M. (1971). A concentração da competência para o conhecimento jurisdicional da inconstitucionalidade das leis. O Direito, ano 103, 173–210.
Hinarejos, A. (2015). The Euro Area Crisis in Constitutional Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kilpatrick, C. (2017). Constitutions, Social Rights and Sovereign Debt States in Europe: A Challenging New Area of Constitutional Inquiry. In T. Beukers (Ed.), Constitutional Change Through Euro-Crisis Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Maduro, M. P., & Frada, A., & Pierdominici, L. (2017, May). A Crisis Between Crises: Placing the Portuguese Jurisprudence of Crisis in Context. E-pública Revista Eletrónica de Direito Público, 4(1), 5–42.
Nogueira de Brito, M. (2014). Putting Social Rights in Brackets? The Portuguese Experience with Welfare Challenges in Times of Crisis. In C. Kilpatrick and B. de Witte (Eds.), Social Rights in Times of Crisis in the Eurozone: The Role of Fundamental Rights’ Challenges (EUI Working Papers). At http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/31247.
Novais, J. R. (2014). Em Defesa do Tribunal Constitucional: Resposta aos Críticos. Coimbra: Almedina.
Santos, A. C. (2011). Papel político do Tribunal Constitucional. Coimbra: Coimbra Editora.
Scheppele, K. L. (2004). A Realpolitic Defense of Social Rights. Texas Law Review, 82, 1921–1961.
Shapiro, M. (1998). The European Court of Justice: Of Institutions and Democracy. Israel Law Review, 3–32.
Stone Sweet, A. (1999). Judicialization and the Construction of Governance. Comparative Political Science, 31, 147–184.
Szente, Z. (2013). Breaking and Making Constitutional Rules: The Constitutional Effects of the Financial Crisis in Hungary. In X. Contiades (Ed.), Constitutions in the Global Financial Crisis. A Comparative Analysis. Farnham: Ashgate.
Szente, Z., & Gárdos-Orosz, F. (2018). Introduction: Contemporary Challenges of Constitutional Adjudication in Europe, in idem. New Challenges to Constitutional Adjudication in Europe—A Comparative Perspective (pp. 5–15). London: Routledge.
Tsebelis, G. (2002). Veto Players—How Political Institutions Work. New York: Sage.
Tuori, K., & Tuori, K. (2014). The Eurozone Crisis: A Constitutional Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vlachogianis, A. (2018). From Submission to Reaction: The Greek Courts’ Stance on the Financial Crisis. In Z. Szente & F. Gárdos-Orosz (Eds.), New Challenges to Constitutional Adjudication in Europe—A Comparative Perspective (pp. 72–88). London: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Violante, T. (2019). The Portuguese Constitutional Court and Its Austerity Case Law. In: Costa Pinto, A., Pequito Teixeira, C. (eds) Political Institutions and Democracy in Portugal. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98152-9_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98152-9_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98151-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98152-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)