8 questions and answers about the strike at the Public Prosecutor's Office

The Public Prosecutor's Office magistrates carried out their threat this Saturday and even went ahead with the planning of a strike, in light of the latest decision by the Superior Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office (CSMP) which approved the annual movement of magistrates on June 4.

The Public Prosecutor's Office Magistrates' Union (SMMP) has not resorted to this action since 2019 , although it is now doing so for different reasons. If at the time it was a reaction against political proposals from the PS and PSD which, in the union's view, jeopardized the autonomy of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), now this instrument is being used because of the accumulation of service in different areas and courts provided for in the resolution.

Have there been any strikes in the history of the Public Prosecutor's Office? What has Amadeu Guerra said about the SMMP protests? And what measures has the union taken to fight back? Observador seeks to answer these and other questions about the current tense situation in the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Is this the first strike by public prosecutors?

No. History tells us that there have been at least eight other strikes by Public Prosecution Service (MP) magistrates in their own name, not counting the participation of these professionals in general strikes organized in Portugal over the last few decades. The first strike by the Public Prosecution Service Magistrates' Union (SMMP) dates back to May 8, 1985 and was called due to the professionals' dissatisfaction with some aspects of the Organic Law of the Public Prosecution Service approved by the Assembly of the Republic, achieving an 86% participation rate.

New national strikes followed in the Public Prosecutor's Office on 18 December 1987 — in defence of its “status, the independence of the courts and decent conditions in the administration of justice”, according to a letter from the union at the time — and on 13 December 1988 , due to the implementation of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Government without guaranteeing conditions for its execution by magistrates. In 1994, the Public Prosecutor's Office magistrates went on strike again, this time in protest against the salary freeze in the higher echelons.

It would then take about 11 years for the next strike to take place, which took place on 25 and 26 October 2005, with the then president of the SMMP, António Cluny, pointing out “a political will” on the part of the government led by Prime Minister José Sócrates to “attack the judiciary” due to measures regarding the socio-professional status of the profession, according to statements cited in Público . Data from the union structure indicated a turnout of around 95%, in an action that was also combined with the strike of other judicial agents that week.

10 answers to explain the strike by Public Prosecutor's Office magistrates

Another strike followed on 25 November 2013 , now during the term of office of Rui Cardoso — current director of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Prosecution (DCIAP) —, which occurred before the final vote on that year's State Budget and aimed, according to the union structure, “to dignify the justice system, the socio-professional status of magistrates, the independence of the judiciary and the Social State of Law”.

Finally, 2019 saw the last major protests by prosecutors, with two three-day strikes: the first on 25, 26 and 27 February , and the second between 27 and 29 June . The union, then under the presidency of António Ventinhas (current director of the DIAP in Faro), was protesting against what it considered to be an attack by the PS and PSD on the autonomy of the MP, due to the way in which the statute was revised, which indicated an attempt to politically control this independent judiciary.

What is the origin of the current tense situation?

The current tension between prosecutors is based on the decision of the Superior Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office (CSMP) of June 4, which approved the ordinary movement of magistrates and was published on the same day in the Official Gazette . The CSMP decision provides for the distribution of prosecutors among existing positions and the accumulation of functions in different areas of specialization and courts/counties simultaneously, by decision of the coordinating magistrate of the county.

The Superior Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office (CSMP) is the body responsible for the management and discipline of the Public Prosecutor's Office's judiciary. It is a body that, in the name of the principle of self-government of the judiciary, determines the annual movement of magistrates, approving or rejecting transfer requests. It is also the CSMP, which is led by the Attorney General of the Republic, that appoints prosecutors to all hierarchical positions in the Public Prosecutor's Office, starting with the district prosecutors, going on to the director of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Prosecution and the heads of the district investigation and criminal prosecution departments, and ending with the coordinators of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the different districts and jurisdictions.