Abstract
With the implementation of the Reform in September 2007, the Portuguese Parliament has been challenging the decline of parliament thesis and gaining a centrality in the political system regarding its political control role. Although during the bailout period to Portugal (May 2011–May 2014), the main meetings with the Troika delegation took place outside the Parliament, at the headquarters of the Government and of the Socialist Party (then the main opposition party), Parliament did not relinquish executive control of the government, particularly over the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (programme for enforcing measures). With the creation of the contraption (“Geringonça”) (2015), the Parliament strengthened its centrality in the Portuguese political system. For the first time in Portuguese democracy, there is a minority government supported by three parliamentary agreements, and negotiations take place essentially at the parliament headquarters and not at the government headquarters (as is the case with government coalitions). The exercise of executive control by the government is likely to produce effects different from those expected when there is a majority in the government supported by the same majority in parliament.
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Seguro, A.J. (2019). The Centrality of the Portuguese Parliament: Reform, Troika and “Contraption”. 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_6
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