The vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic António Filipe read the two pages of the message in which Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa explains his doubts about the right of succession and its retroactive application.

The deputies limited themselves to listening to the message given that any decision - whether to confirm or amend the diploma to dispel Marcelo's doubts - can only happen within 15 days or after this period, known as the cooling-off period, i.e. from 14 May.

This is what Article 160 of the rules of the Assembly of the Republic says when it stipulates that the reappraisal of the law can happen "from the fifteenth day after the receipt of the reasoned message" of veto.

The parliamentary groups of the PS, the Left Bloc and the Liberal Initiative have already announced that they are willing to make changes to the law to overcome the President's doubts about the law.

The President of the Republic vetoed on 22 April the Parliament's decree on post-mortem insemination considering that it raises doubts in terms of succession law and questioning its retroactive application.

In the message sent to the Assembly of the Republic regarding this veto, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa asked deputies to reconsider the provisions "particularly in the light of the principle of legal certainty and in the systematic context of the other relevant rules of the national legal system in matters of succession.

At issue is a decree allowing the use of PMA through insemination with semen after the death of the donor, in cases of expressly consented parental projects, approved on 25 March with votes in favour of PS, BE, PCP, PAN, PEV and Liberal Initiative and of the non-attached deputies Joacine Katar Moreira and Cristina Rodrigues, votes against of PSD, CDS-PP and Chega and the abstention of five socialist deputies.