Journal of the Assembleia da República
The Assembleia’s official journal is the Journal of the Assembleia da República (Diário da Assembleia da República).
It consists of two separate series, with Series 2 divided into five sub-series.
The content of each series is as follows:
Series 1 – A true and complete account of what takes place at each plenary sitting.
Series 2-A – The text of the decrees, resolutions and decisions issued by the Plenary, the Standing Committee, the Bureau, and the Conference of Parliamentary Group Representatives; the text of draft amendments to the Constitution, Member’s and government bills, draft resolutions and referenda, draft decisions, the parliamentary committee opinions on them, replacement texts (if any) and final versions, together with any other opinions that parliamentary committees are asked to produce; the text of the summons issued by the President of the Republic when he calls the Assembleia under the terms of the Constitution, messages from the President of the Republic, the Government’s Programme, and motions rejecting the Government’s Programme, motions of no confidence and motions of confidence.
Series 2-B – The text of votes, calls to answer questions, parliamentary inquiries, and motions for the consideration of executive laws, as well as written questions to the Government and the requests referred to in Article 156(d) and (e) of the Constitution, and the respective replies, which may be reproduced only in part when the Bureau sees fit due to their length, as well as the texts of parliamentary hearings; and the texts of and reports on petitions whose publication is required by law or which the competent committee sees fit to publish.
Series 2-C – The activity reports of the various parliamentary committees, as required by the Rules of Procedure, and of delegations of the Assembleia da República; the minutes of committees and parliamentary hearings when a decision is taken to publish them; and documents concerning Members’ mandates and terms of office and parliamentary groups.
Series 2-D – Speeches given by Members when representing the Assembleia da República at international organisations (particularly the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Western European Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Conference of European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the European Union), provided they are also reproduced in full in the respective records; the speeches by Assembleia delegations; and the documents related to the formation and composition of parliamentary friendship groups.
Series 2-E – The orders issued by the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembleia; the Assembleia da República’s budget and accounts, and the Assembleia and the Legal Audit Office’s activity reports; the decisions, recommendations, opinions and reports of the independent organs attached to the Assembleia da República; documents concerning the Assembleia’s staff; and any other documents whose publication is required by the law or the Rules of Procedure, or which the President sees fit to have published.
The separate issues (separatas) of the Journal of the Assembleia da República serve to publish initiatives before they are put to public discussion.
The Journal of the Assembleia da República and the separate issues are published exclusively in electronic format, on this webpage.
Under the terms of the applicable legislation full faith is attached to this electronic edition, and the publication of acts by this means is valid for all legal purposes and for the purposes of the Rules of Procedure.
You can also access the Parliamentary Debates database, which includes Series 1 and 2 of the Journal of the Assembleia da República from the 1st Legislature up to the present day.
The Parliamentary Debates database is structured as follows:
The Constitutional Monarchy (1821-1910) covers the activities of the “General and Extraordinary Cortes of the Portuguese Nation” (1821-1822), the “Chamber of Deputies” (1822-1910), the “Chamber of Peers of the Realm” (1826-1838), the “General, Extraordinary and Constituent Cortes of the Portuguese Nation” (1837-1838), the “Chamber of Senators” (1838-1842) and the “Chamber of Peers of the Realm” (1842-1910).
The First Republic (1910-1926) includes the parliamentary work of the “National Constituent Assembly” (1911), the “Chamber of Deputies” (1911-1926), the “Senate of the Republic” (1911-1926) and the “Congress of the Republic” (1911-1926).
The New State or Estado Novo (1935-1974) has the texts of the Journals of the Sessions of the “National Assembly” (1935-1974) and the “Corporative Chamber” (1935-1974).
The Third Republic (1975 to present day) - includes parliamentary speeches made during plenary sittings in the “Constituent Assembly” and Series 1 and 2 of the Journal of the Assembleia da República from the 1st Legislature up to the present day.
The Parliamentary Debates database also offers access to Series I and II RC, which cover the texts of the debates in the Plenary (Series I RC) and the ad hoc committees on constitutional revision (Series II RC) in relation to the Revisions of the Constitution that have been made to date (1982, 1989, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2004, and 2005).
You can also find the speeches given by Members of the Assembleia da República from each parliamentary group and by the Government since the 6th Legislature (October 1991). There are speeches that formed part of the legislative procedure and the general work of the Parliament, including the discussion of legislative initiatives (draft amendments to the Constitution, Member’s and government bills, draft resolutions and referenda and draft decisions), petitions submitted by citizens, political statements and questions to the Government, as well as other speeches made during the debates in plenary sittings.