Jump to content

E.C. President does not advise Portuguese referendum in light of current crisis

Add links
Unchecked
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Monday, December 6, 2004

LISBON — The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, said holding a referendum on acceding to the European Constitution in Portugal is inadvisable, in light of the current political crisis in that country.

"A political crisis is surely not the best moment to discuss the European Constitution", Barroso said to the press outside a colloquium about European Identity in Lisbon.

The E.C. President refused to comment on the current situation in Portugal, but admitted to have been "surprised" by the Portuguese President's decision to call for new elections, ending the government's term a full year early.

Barroso was the former Prime Minister of the current Portuguese government and leader of the ruling PSD party. He stepped down to accept the nomination for President of the European Commission, favouring current Prime-Minister Pedro Santana Lopes as his successor.

The Portuguese President, Jorge Sampaio, announced his intention to dissolve the Parliament on Tuesday, November 30 and call for new elections. The decision is not yet final but should be settled no later than Friday, after the President has had an opportunity to consult political parties and others concerned. While it awaits the President's decision, the Parliament will vote on the new State Budget for 2005 today, amid protests from the opposition.

Sources

[edit]


Reviewed article
Reviewed article

This article has passed through community review. The users who have reviewed it believe it to be factually accurate, neutral and free of legal problems. Please comment on the discussion page if you find any issues with this article, and please clearly denote any updates you make at the bottom.


This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
Retrieved from "https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/E.C._President_does_not_advise_Portuguese_referendum_in_light_of_current_crisis"