<![CDATA[ Caso das gémeas: supremo não vai mudar o nome da comissão de inquérito ]]>

The Supreme Administrative Court (STA) decided to extinguish the action to change the name of the commission of inquiry into the case of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins, considering that the issue had been overcome with the use of the full name.

In a ruling by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, it is stated that the Supreme Administrative Court decided on Thursday to "dismiss the proceedings, due to the supervening uselessness of the dispute". The court concluded that the order of January 9th for the parliament to stop using the name "Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry - Twins treated with the drug Zolgensma", after summoning the children's mother, "is fully executed in accordance with the guidance given by the President of the Assembly of the Republic when he requested the commission of inquiry (and it accepted) that the full name be used". The commission of inquiry has since always used its full name, that is, "Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to verify the legality and conduct of political leaders allegedly involved in the provision of health care to two children (twins) treated with the drug 'Zolgensma'". On the 9th, the administrative section of the STA ordered the parliament to stop using the name "Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry - Twins treated with the drug Zolgensma", after the mother of the children was summoned. On the 22nd of January, the conference of leaders decided that the Assembly of the Republic would appeal the decision of the STA that imposed the change of the name of the commission of inquiry, considering that this court invaded the powers of the parliament. The commission itself had already decided in the same sense days before. On that day, the spokesperson for the conference of leaders maintained that the STA's ruling ends up constituting "an interference" in the powers of the Assembly of the Republic as a sovereign body. Jorge Paulo Oliveira added that the conference of leaders understood that the limits of the request for summons by the mother of the children that led to this decision had even been exceeded. The president of the Assembly of the Republic had also considered that there were grounds for the parliament to appeal the decision of the STA regarding the change of the name of the commission of inquiry. In an opinion to which Lusa had access, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco argued that the "decision to set up an ad hoc parliamentary inquiry committee (CPI), which results in the attribution of a formal name to the CPI that materializes in the choice of a name, constitutes (...) a political act that only parliament is competent to take".

"The choice of the name of the CPI does not appear to be an issue with independent relevance in relation to the aforementioned political decision to set up the commission, and is therefore excluded from the jurisdiction of the administrative courts", stated the document signed by the President of the Assembly of the Republic.

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