CHAPTER 27

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Article 169 — Principle of Constitutional Stability

  1. This Constitution may be amended only by the procedures established in this Chapter.

  2. The Constitution shall be stable, but not immutable except as to the eternity clause.

  3. Constitutional amendment shall respect democratic legitimacy, public deliberation, and constitutional continuity.

Article 170 — Right to Propose Constitutional Amendments

  1. A proposal to amend the Constitution may be initiated by: a) the Lower House by an absolute majority of its constitutional membership — seventy-six (76) of one hundred fifty (150) deputies; b) the Upper House by an absolute majority of its constitutional membership — eleven (11) of twenty (20) senators; c) citizens through constitutional initiative in accordance with Article 102; d) other actors only where expressly provided by this Constitution.

  2. Any amendment proposal shall be published in full and accompanied by an explanation of its purpose, constitutional effects, and compatibility with the eternity clause.

Article 171 — Parliamentary Approval of Amendments

  1. Any constitutional amendment shall require approval by a two-thirds vote of the constitutional membership of the Lower House — one hundred (100) of one hundred fifty (150) deputies — and a two-thirds vote of the constitutional membership of the Upper House — fourteen (14) of twenty (20) senators.

  2. The votes required by paragraph 1 shall be separate, public, and recorded.

  3. No constitutional amendment may be adopted through urgent procedure, closed session, hidden rider, or bundled text that prevents clear public understanding.

  4. No vote on a constitutional amendment may be held less than thirty (30) days after the amendment proposal was formally published and submitted to both chambers. Constitutional law may establish longer deliberation periods.

Article 172 — Mandatory Constitutional Court Review of Amendments

  1. Every constitutional amendment adopted by Parliament shall be submitted to the Constitutional Court before referendum.

  2. The Constitutional Court shall review: a) procedural constitutionality; b) clarity and coherence of the text; c) compatibility with the eternity clause; d) conformity with the democratic structure of the Constitution.

  3. Any amendment proposal declared unconstitutional may not be submitted to referendum.

Article 173 — Mandatory Referendum

  1. Every constitutional amendment shall be submitted to a national referendum after parliamentary approval and Constitutional Court review.

  2. The referendum shall be binding.

  3. Constitutional law shall ensure that amendment questions are clear, comprehensible, and not misleading.

  4. No constitutional amendment enters into force unless approved by the people in referendum.

Article 174 — Restrictions During Emergency

  1. No constitutional amendment may be proposed, adopted, reviewed, or submitted to referendum during a state of emergency or other exceptional constitutional regime where free democratic deliberation is materially impaired.

  2. Any purported amendment adopted in violation of paragraph 1 is void.

Article 174a — Prohibition of Cumulative Circumvention

  1. A series of constitutional amendments that individually appear compatible with the eternity clause but collectively achieve the abolition or hollowing-out of a principle protected by Article 175 is prohibited and void.

  2. Where the Constitutional Court, in reviewing any proposed amendment, finds that it forms part of a pattern of amendments that cumulatively threaten an eternity-clause principle, the Court may: a) declare the proposed amendment incompatible with the eternity clause on cumulative grounds; b) declare previously adopted amendments void where they form an inseparable part of the cumulative circumvention.

  3. In reviewing any constitutional amendment, the Constitutional Court shall examine not only the text of the proposed amendment but also its structural effect on the constitutional order as a whole, the sequence and timing of related amendments, and whether the combined effect of recent and proposed amendments would produce a result that no single amendment could constitutionally achieve.

  4. Any actor with standing under Article 90 may bring a cumulative-circumvention challenge to the Constitutional Court at any time, including in respect of amendments that have already passed mandatory review, where new evidence of cumulative effect has emerged.

Article 174b — Single-Subject Rule for Amendments

  1. Each constitutional amendment shall address a single subject. An amendment that bundles multiple unrelated changes — or that combines an eternity-compatible change with a change that would individually fail eternity review — shall be severed by the Constitutional Court. The Court shall: a) identify the independent subjects contained in the bundled amendment; b) declare severable the portions that are individually constitutional; c) declare void the portions that are individually unconstitutional or that exist solely to disguise an unconstitutional change.

  2. Parliament may not structure amendment proposals so as to force a single referendum vote on a combination of desirable and constitutionally problematic changes. The Constitutional Court may restructure such proposals into separate referendum questions before they are put to a national vote.