Supreme Court allows government spokesman at cabinet sessions, sets conditions

The Supreme Constitutional Court on Thursday issued a ruling permitting the government spokesman and the undersecretary to the president to be present at sessions of the cabinet, provided they absent themselves during the decision-making part of the session.

As the state’s legal counsel, the attorney-general had taken recourse to the top court to challenge earlier judgments by the administrative court that had found illegitimate the presence of those two officials at cabinet meetings.

The Supreme Court agreed with the attorney-general, noting in its judgment that the government spokesman and the undersecretary to the president have specific functions to perform at cabinet sessions, that they may provide input to the discussions, keep the minutes, but that they must leave the room before the cabinet adopts any executive decision.

This latest ruling goes some way toward giving clarity on who gets to attend meetings of the cabinet, and in what capacity, such that the composition of the cabinet is deemed legitimate – and therefore no questions potentially hang over the legitimacy of decisions made by that body.

The issue has to do with the recorded composition of the cabinet at any given meeting, to distinguish between those in attendance and those designated as members of the cabinet.

Article 46 of the constitution defines the cabinet as consisting only of the government ministers. Article 60 states that the undersecretary to the president attends cabinet meetings and keeps the minutes.

In a related development, the government had earlier tabled legislation that would allow deputy ministers not only to attend meetings of the cabinet, but also participate in the discussions. But like the government spokesman and the undersecretary to the president, they would need to absent themselves during the decision-making process.

The bill aims to amend Article 55 of the constitution, which is a non-fundamental article. Non-fundamental articles may be amended or repealed.

Article 55 reads: “The President of the Republic convenes the meetings of the Council of Ministers. Such convening is made by the President of the Republic on his own motion or on being asked by the Vice-President of the Republic in due time for a specific subject.”