Abortus-discussie bemoeilijkt referendum over EU-grondwet in Portugal (en) - Main contents

The Portuguese opposition leader has threatened to block a national constitutional revision, aimed at making a referendum on the EU Constitution possible, if the government goes ahead with an abortion referendum in June.

Luís Marques Mendes, the man who was appointed on Sunday as the leader of the Portuguese Social Democrat party and main opposition party in the country, believes the European Constitution referendum is "an absolute priority", which should be held before any abortion referenda.

"If the government keeps to this line of priorities it can count on our support for a necessary revision of the constitution", Mr Mendes said yesterday in his first speech as party leader.

According to Portuguese daily Público, socialist MPs have been pushing for a referendum to legalise abortion to be held before a possible European Constitution Referendum.

The Portuguese prime minister, socialist José Sócrates, called for a European Constitution referendum to be held in October, on the same day as the regional elections. For that to happen, the national Constitution has to be revised, as it forbids simultaneous balloting.

The Constitution also forbids "international treaties" in general to be subject to referendums, a competence normally exclusive to the Parliament.

However, "matters of national interest" may be subject to a national referendum, except for peace and border rectification issues.

A Constitutional revision has to be approved by two-thirds of members of the Parliament, making a deal between the socialist majority and the social democratic opposition inevitable.

Mr Sócrates, was elected in March with an absolute majority - 45.5% of the vote.

Portugal was supposed to be the first EU country to hold a referendum on the EU charter before political instability prompted President Sampaio to call for early general elections.