Constitution of the Portuguese Republic

Country
Portugal

Article 61 (Private enterprise, cooperatives and worker management) (1). Private economic enterprise shall be freely exercised, within the framework provided by this Constitution and the law, and with due account to the general interest. Article 80 (Fundamental principles) Social and economic organisation shall be based on the following principles: (d) Public ownership of natural resources and of the means of production, where required in the public interest. Article 81 (Priority duties of the State) In the economic and social field the state shall be under a primary duty: (a) Within the overall framework of a sustainable development strategy, to promote an increase in people’s social and economic well-being and quality of life, especially those of the most disadvantaged persons; (b) To promote social justice, ensure equal opportunity and carry out the necessary corrections to inequalities in the distribution of wealth and income, particularly by means of the fiscal policy; (c) To ensure the full use of the forces of production, particularly by making every effort to ensure the efficiency of the public sector; (d) To promote the economic and social cohesion of the whole country by guiding development in the direction of a balanced growth in every sector and region and progressively eliminating the economic and social differences between towns and the country and between the coastal strip and the inland areas; (e) To promote the correction of the inequalities derived from the autonomous regions’ insular nature and encourage the said regions’ progressive integration into broader economic areas with a national or international scope; (f) To ensure the efficient operation of the markets, in such a way as to guarantee a balanced competition between businesses, counter monopolistic forms of organisation and repress abuses of dominant positions and other practises that are harmful to the general interest; (g) To develop economic relations with all peoples, while always safeguarding national independence and the interests of both the Portuguese people and the country’s economy; (h) To eliminate very large estates and restructure small farms; (i) To guarantee consumer rights and interests; (j) To create the legal and technical instruments needed to democratically plan economic and social development; (l) To ensure the existence of a science and technology policy that favours the country’s development; (m) To adopt a national energy policy that preserves natural resources and the ecological balance, while promoting international cooperation in this domain; (n) To adopt a national water policy that uses, plans and rationally manages water resources.