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The Portuguese Constitutional Court in Paris with Future Generations
05.02.2024The Portuguese Constitutional Court is actively involved in the preparation of the Summit of the Future proposed by the United Nationsâ Secretary-General, which will take place in September in New York. This high-level meeting will approve a âDeclaration on Future Generationsâ, which will have a section on justice that seeks to integrate the interests of new generations in national and international legal systems.
To prepare this summit, a meeting will be held this week in Paris between representatives of constitutional, judicial, and administrative courts. The Portuguese Constitutional Court will be represented by its President José João Abrantes.
The Paris meeting will start with a debate on access to justice by future generations in environmental matters. The Constitutional Court previously answered a questionnaire of the French Constitutional Council on the rights related to the environment enshrined in the Constitution. In the answers to that questionnaire, it is mentioned that the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic was a pioneer in treating the environment as a fundamental right, and even inspired constitutions from other Portuguese-speaking countries. It is also mentioned that, according to Portuguese law, both individuals and entities have standing to bring an action in defence of the environment. Any court may decide environmental cases depending on whether what is at stake is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution, or environmental crimes, civil actions, or environmental damages resulting from a direct action or an omission by the State. Though the Constitutional Court is competent to review the constitutionality of norms, both through anticipatory and successive abstract review, review of unconstitutionality by omission, and specific review, the Constitutional Court has not until now been called to decide any emblematic case on environmental matters or the rights of future generations. Answers to the questionnaire can be found here >> Portugal_Justice_Future Generations and Environment_.EN_.pdf