The fundamental right to social income of insertion (re)interpreted through Portuguese state budgets

Authors

  • Irene Maria Portela Instituto Politécnico do Cavado

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17808/des.52.1056

Keywords:

social income of insertion, fundamental rights, judicial review, social security, state budget

Abstract

The development of the well-fare state and, currently, the problems regarding social security sustainability, when confronted with the exponential growth of the Portuguese poverty and social exclusion indexes, direct the rigid debate towards successive State budgets. The appearance of Social Income of Insertion's ("Rendimento Social de Inserção", hereafter RSI) legal regime 20 years ago opened up a completely new field of action about social policy and social inclusion measures, implementing commitments between social security and it's beneficiaries or users. The question regarding the unconstitutionality in the application of RSI's rules to its beneficiaries was a question put forth in the context of the interpretation of statutes or regulations in defiance of the constitutional spirit. In 2010, the situation changed because of heightened consciousness about the grave economic and financial crisis undergoing in Portugal. The high public debt and the public deficit leads to the definition of very restrictive State budgets. The successive cuts applied to subsidies, salaries, pensions and fiscal benefits redefine the successive social policy requirement as a function of budgetary restrictions. In particular, RSI is framed in this restrictive mechanism. The revision of its legal regime translates into an array of legal and contractual requirements that are hard for applicants to access and into immediate loss to beneficiaries in default. Under the shadow of the state budget, RSI becomes "antisocial".

References

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Published

2018-09-10

How to Cite

Portela, I. M. (2018). The fundamental right to social income of insertion (re)interpreted through Portuguese state budgets. Revista Direito, Estado E Sociedade, (52). https://doi.org/10.17808/des.52.1056

Issue

No. 52 (2018)

Section

Articles (Artigos)

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