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Portugal The Council of Ministers
The Council of Ministers, or cabinet, is the state's
highest
executive institution. The council consists of the prime
minister
and fifteen to eighteen cabinet ministers. Most ministers
come
from the parliament, but they are not required to do so.
In
coalition cabinets, the majority of ministers usually
belongs to
the coalition's largest party, that of the prime minister,
and
the remaining ministers come from other coalition parties.
Once
in the cabinet, a member of parliament has to relinquish,
at
least temporarily, his or her seat in that body.
The Council of Ministers has both administrative and
policymaking functions, is responsible for national security and
defense affairs, and is in charge of the day-to-day
implementation of government policy. In addition,
Portugal's
cabinet has extensive legislative powers by virtue of its
power
to pass decree-laws within areas of its responsibility. It
can
also be granted the right by the Assembly of the Republic
to pass
legislation in areas of responsibility usually reserved to
parliament, its "relatively reserved legislative powers."
Because
getting a bill through the assembly was often a slow
process, the
Council of Ministers often made use of this right. The
council is
responsible both individually and collectively for its
actions,
first to the prime minister and ultimately to the
parliament.
In Portugal, the minister with the greatest power was
the
minister of finance, who prepared the budget and oversaw
the
finances of the other ministries. Ministers were assisted
by
politically appointed secretaries of state, who vacated
their
positions when their ministers left the council. As
allowed by
Article 203 of the 1989 revised constitution, a number of
ministers sometimes met together and formed what the
constitution
terms "councils of specialized ministers" to work on
matters of
mutual concern. They could call on their secretaries of
state and
civil servants for assistance and could submit the results
of
their collaboration to the entire cabinet for review.
Additional bodies were later created to assist
individual
ministers on the council as a whole. In 1984 the Office of
Techno-Legislative Support, under the minister of justice,
was
formed to assist the council in drafting legislation. A
number of
superior councils assisted ministers with studies and
planning.
Examples of this kind of body were the Superior Council of
Finance or the National Board of Education. In addition to
advising ministers, these bodies met with groups being
affected
by government decisions.
Data as of January 1993
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