This information was advanced to the Lusa agency today by a parliamentary source, who later added that the PCP also expressed its opposition to José Pedro Aguiar-Branco's proposal to hear former presidents of the Constitutional Court at a leaders' conference. Given the lack of consensus among the parliamentary groups, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, "will seek another model" to hear from former presidents of the Constitutional Court. Today, Aguiar-Branco proposed to the parliamentary groups that former presidents of the Constitutional Court be heard at a leaders' conference on Wednesday regarding the freedom of expression of deputies and its compatibility with possible "red lines". This initiative was sent to the presidents of the parliamentary groups and also to the sole deputy of the PAN, as well as to the "vice-presidents" of parliament and members of the board. According to his proposal, at the beginning of this leaders' conference, "the issue of the scope of the limits of freedom of expression of the deputies and its possible compatibility with the establishment of red lines" would be addressed. An issue that arose on Friday morning, in plenary, after the leader of Chega, André Ventura, referred to the working capacities of the Turkish people in connection with the construction of the new Lisbon airport, which led the benches of the BE, Livre and PS to defend the intervention of the president of parliament to prevent this type of speech, which they considered "xenophobic". In the letter sent to the different parliamentary groups, to which the Lusa agency had access, the reason for Aguiar-Branco's proposal to hear from former presidents of the Constitutional Court at a leaders' conference was justified. "Considering that the subject matter in question is of particular importance, with implications for the political system, it justifies a detailed analysis from a legal-constitutional point of view. Therefore, the President of the Assembly of the Republic considers it relevant to hear from former presidents of the Constitutional Court so that they can share their views and possible implications, especially in a context in which deputies benefit from increased freedom of expression when exercising their functions, through the institute of parliamentary immunities," the text reads. Specifically, Aguiar-Branco considered that invitations should be sent to José Manuel Cardoso da Costa, Rui Moura Ramos, Joaquim Sousa Ribeiro, Manuel da Costa Andrade and João Caupers. [News updated at 9:04 pm]

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