Portugal's parliament suspends two inquiry committees during 2027 budget debate

Two committees vote to pause

On Tuesday, 27 October 2026, the parliamentary inquiry committee on the digital classification of the 2025 and 2026 national exams approved suspending its work while parliament debates the 2027 State Budget (OE2027). Only Chega voted against, arguing that the committee should keep running. The committee examining Luís Neves's tenure as head of the Judicial Police (PJ) approved the same pause, with Chega and the Liberal Initiative (IL) voting against. In the Neves committee, a first proposal from its chair, André Ventura, that the work continue had been rejected before the pause passed. Four inquiries are currently under way in parliament, covering rural fires, INEM, the national exams and Luís Neves, and the plenary is due to vote on the suspensions on Wednesday, 28 October.

Timing of the return

The exam committee is set to resume on 2 December, one week after the final global vote on the 2027 budget on 24 November, with the ceremonies marking the 25 November anniversary falling in between. Sources give different dates for the Neves committee. Most reports say its pause runs from 28 October to 26 November, while Notícias ao Minuto and one Observador report say it resumes on 28 November. The Neves committee was installed on 14 October to assess Neves's work as PJ director across his mandates from 2018 to 2026, along with any responsibility of government members who appointed and oversaw him. Chega forced the inquiry after controversies over works carried out at a property of Neves, now interior minister, by a company that held contracts with the PJ, and over a trailer carrying seized chemicals that was kept at that company's premises.

Hearings approved and rejected

The committee approved written hearings of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and former prime minister António Costa, Montenegro's with PSD and CDS-PP abstaining and Costa's without a vote. A hearing request for former president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, proposed by IL, was rejected with PS and PSD voting against. The committee also rejected requests for journalists Felícia Cabrita and Sandra Felgueiras, who led the investigations into the Neves controversies, as well as for appeals court judge Carlos Alexandre and Odemira mayor Hélder Guerreiro. Ventura's own hearing was approved on a Livre proposal, even though PSD argued it fell outside the committee's remit, because Chega said documents about the committee's work disappeared in an alleged break-in at its office in parliament.

When Paulo Muacho of Livre asked whether Ventura would stay as chair after that decision, he replied:

“At the moment of the hearing we will assess that position, both legally and politically.”

The answer opened the door to Ventura leaving the chair of the committee.

Chega's push to keep working

Chega wanted both committees to keep running alongside the budget debate, but the majority did not agree. Ventura had said earlier that he favoured no interruption and repeated that position on Monday, 26 October, after a closed-door meeting of the committee's board and coordinators that discussed the timetable. Leaving that meeting, he told reporters that, without support for his proposal, the option approved on 27 October should be the one put to a vote. Suspending committees during budget debates is a parliamentary tradition, and the plenary had already approved the same pause for the permanent committees and the rural fires inquiry. The plenary vote on Wednesday, 28 October, will decide whether the suspensions of the two inquiries take formal effect.