The Regime of Incompatibilities of Local Elected Officials and the Application of the Law in Time, from a Jurisprudential Perspective

The special legislation on incompatibilities and conflicts of interest aims to ensure the transparency in the exercise of the stateliness and public functions and in the business environment, the prevention and sanctioning of corruption, also establishing, among the specific rules and conditions for exercising the mandate, certain incompatibilities taking into account the need to ensure the neutral fulfilment, by the persons exercising a public function of authority, of the attributions incumbent on them, in full accordance with the principles of impartiality, integrity, transparency of the decision and supremacy of the public interest. Therefore, the establishment of the case of incompatibility does not constitute, in reality, a restriction of the exercise of certain rights or freedoms, but a guarantee likely to confer an indisputable moral authority to the persons exercising the functions of mayor, president and vice-president of the county council, by ensuring impartiality, protecting the social interest and avoiding conflict of interest. From the perspective of the ethical nature of the sanction, the jurisprudential controversy concerns the possibility of disposing the sanction provided by law that would affect their current mandate, if in this mandate the acts that would attract such a sanction were not committed, the state of incompatibility not existing in this mandate.