The President of the Assembly of the Republic is available to collaborate in the execution of a formal apology by Chega deputy Filipe Melo, before the plenary, following the recommendation of the Transparency Commission.
Last week, a Commission Transparency Parliamentarian issued an opinion in which he condemned the “inappropriate conduct” of Chega deputy Filipe Melo, urging him to publicly recant in a plenary session and consider whether he is capable of continuing as a member of the parliament’s board.
At issue is a complaint from PS deputy Isabel Moreira, who accused Filipe Melo of, in a plenary session on September 25, 2025, having made her “gestures considered disrespectful, namely, sending kisses, and making signs to shut up, in an alleged attempt to silence”.
In his order, which follows the report on this case issued by the Commission for Transparency and Statute of Deputies (CTED), the President of the Assembly of the Republic “expresses his availability to collaborate in the implementation of the CTED recommendation, which proposes the presentation, before the plenary, a formal apology”.
“Such collaboration will be ensured if Mr Filipe Melo himself expresses, to the Bureau, his intention to comply with the recommendation, The initiative of requesting the intervention to be carried out is expressly vested in him.“, warns in the same order.
Immediately afterwards, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco highlights that “the President of the Assembly of the Republic does not have the material competence to promote, impose or ensure that any deputy speaks against his will”.
“Considering that the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic do not specifically provide for a procedural mechanism applicable to public retraction interventions, taking into account the nature of the recommendation formulated – aimed at reaffirming the duties of dignity of office, civility, institutional respect required of deputies and, in particular, members of the Bureau – it is considered legally appropriate to resort, by analogical application, to the regime provided for in article 84 of the Rules of Procedure” points out the president of the parliament.
Article 84 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic relates to “reaction against offenses to honor or consideration“.
According to José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, under the terms of this article, namely paragraph 1, “whenever a deputy considers that expressions that offend his honor or consideration have been made, he may, in his defense, speak for a maximum period of two minutes”.
“No. 2 of the same article establishes that the author of expressions considered offensive also has a period of time not exceeding two minutes to provide explanations. This precept, containing the regulatory mechanism functionally closest to the purpose pursued by the CTED recommendation, allows, by analogy, to be attributed to Mr. Filipe Melo — as author of expressions considered offensive – a time of up to two minutes to, when deemed appropriate, make the recommended public retraction“, adds the order from the President of the Assembly of the Republic.