The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, accused the PS of “wanting to repeat the mistake made in immigration policy” in the past and, with the objections to the Nationality Law, wanting to “finish the work of demographic and political reengineering” of the country. “What seems to be leading and commanding the PS’s position is a desire to repeat the mistake made in immigration policy”, he began by criticizing António Leitão Amaro, who was questioned at the press conference regarding the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers about the expectation of approval of the law only with Chega, after the PS had regretted the lack of agreement with the benches that support the PSD/CDS-PP Government.
Minister Leitão Amaro said that socialist executives “facilitated the entry of around a million people” and now the PS wants to “facilitate the entry and attribution of nationality to one million people”. “It seems that the PS wants to finish the work of demographic reengineering and political reengineering of the country that it launched with the expression of interest,” he accused.
The parliamentary leader of the PS, Eurico Brilhante Dias, pointed out as a “central point” of disagreement on the part of his party the repeal of the rule of law in force that safeguards “the time elapsed since the moment the residence permit was requested” in Portugal “for the purposes of counting deadlines”. For the Minister of the Presidency, this argument “seems to show that the PS in the past and now was not telling the truth to the Portuguese”.
Leitão Amaro also tried to eliminate the doubts of constitutionality highlighted by the PS, saying that there would be “a potential unconstitutionality” if the Government’s initial intention of the diploma applying to all situations since June 19, when the proposed law was announced and before it came into force, was maintained. “In the proposal that the PSD and CDS presented, this situation is not there, and, therefore, the law only provides for the future. Requests made before the law comes into force apply with the law that is in force today“, these.
“Portuguese want more demanding law”
For the minister, the version approved by a parliamentary committee and which will be voted on Tuesday in plenary “is a good law”, which makes obtaining nationality “more demanding, more dependent on effective connection, more dependent on true adherence to the common values of the Portuguese political community, the constitutional values”.
Leitão Amaro highlighted that many of the rules were made possible with votes (even if it was abstention) from the two largest opposition parties in parliament, Chega and PS, and called for their responsibility, although he later accused the socialists of wanting to repeat in this diploma “the mistakes made in the past in immigration policy”.
Chega left its voting decision open regarding the revision of the nationality law, insisting on the enshrinement of the automatic loss of Portuguese citizenship in the case of serious crimes.
“There were some approximations. The PSD put into law tonight that whoever asked for nationality would have to have means of subsistence. There was an approximation here, at several points, there were also approximations of Chega”, declared André Ventura, in Entroncamento, district of Santarém, noting that, even so, a “consensus” had not been reached, awaiting developments until the moment of the final global vote on Tuesday.
“Today we have a law, due to changes in recent years, that is facilitative, out of touch with Europe, out of step with the Portuguese-speaking world, out of step with the demographic transformation that has taken place in Portuguese society. It needs to be changed,” he stated, saying that “the Portuguese want a law to be approved that makes it more demanding” obtaining nationality.
Leitão Amaro said that it is now “in the hands of the parties and those with more responsibility and parliamentary participation to decide whether they want to take this path of change”.
“Whoever votes in favor, wants a requirement in the attribution of Portuguese nationality, wants an effective connection, wants it to be Portuguese who has integrated and who has an effective connection to our community and adheres to our values. Whoever votes against, prefers facilitation and ease in the attribution of Portuguese nationality, giving up any further demands”, he said.
The minister said that the version of the diploma that will be voted on “is aligned in principles and rules with European laws”including the deadlines for obtaining nationality (seven years for citizens from Portuguese-speaking countries and the EU and ten for the rest), which he said are in force in “14 of the European Union countries” and “in the majority of Portuguese-speaking countries”.
“It is a law that is adjusted to reality and the transformation that has occurred in Portuguese society, returning, now, to many solutions that have been in force in Portugal for decades, and that have been changed in recent years”, he argued.
In a final global vote, the Government’s proposal to revise the nationality law will have to be approved with a qualified majority, guaranteeing at least 116 favorable votes from a total of 230 deputies, which at this point is not yet guaranteed.
Chega approved, in particular, some points of the proposal to review the nationality law that came from the Government, while PS, BE and PCP announced their overall opposition to the process.
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