The changes to the Nationality Law were approved in the specialty in the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, but approval in a final global vote is not guaranteed. The PSD, which has been negotiating with PS and Chega, now calls for everyone’s responsibility for the vote that will take place in plenary on Tuesday, the 28th, but the PS is, from now on, on the sidelines, regretting the lack of agreement and raising doubts about the constitutionality in relation to the statement.
“It was our purpose to reach an agreement and, lUnfortunately, this agreement was not possible“, stated the parliamentary leader of the PS, Eurico Brilhante Dias, considering that it was important that this law was changed by the “two major parties that over the last 50 years have sought to legislate on topics of this sensitivity”.
In a press conference in Parliament, after the committee vote, Eurico Brilhante Dias highlighted that the nationality law “It is an organic law, which needs 116 votes” in favor to be approved in plenary and that “an agreement that would lead to the PS voting in favor of the diploma, and not just an abstention”. In this regard, Eurico Brilhante Dias highlighted that “it is still not absolutely certain that the law will have 116 votes”, and that, if it is approved, “the President of the Republic will be able to carry out preventive inspection”. “And we will wait for that moment. However, we will carry out a first analysis of the final document and we will make decisions from there”, he added.
For the PS, there are “at least two points” in the Government’s proposed law approved today in the specialty, with changes mostly proposed by PSD and CDS-PP, “which will be difficult to constitutionally frame”. Regarding a possible request for constitutionality inspection, the PS parliamentary leader responded: “I can’t give a decision today because we will be making that assessment.”
The parliamentary leader of the PS 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”. The PS presented an “intermediate proposal” so that “citizens could count the time from the moment the State and the Public Administration do not meet the response deadline”, but it was rejected.
“For us It is a serious break in the Public Administration’s relationship with citizens, in fact, in this case with foreign citizensbut if we take this paradigm to other spheres it will be serious for the relationship between Public Administration and citizens”, argued Eurico Brilhante Dias.
PSD asks for a sense of responsibility
Given the opposition already assumed by PS, Livre, BE and PCP, on Tuesday, in a final global vote, Chega will have to vote in favor alongside PSD, CDS and IL. Only in this way will a qualified majority of 116 votes in favor be reached among the 230 deputies currently in office.
After the commission, in front of journalists, the vice-president of the PSD bench, António Rodrigues referred precisely to this requirement regarding the “qualified majority” requirement. “We know well that a qualified majority of 116 deputies is necessary. Therefore, It is necessary for everyone to be aware of what they are going to do when voting deciding between not having a legislative device – mainly those that place such a specific emphasis on the matter of loss of nationality – or having, in fact, effective regulation in accordance with what we have established”, warned António Rodrigues.
He then left an appeal to the sense of “responsibility of all those who will be involved” in Tuesday’s vote, in a message addressed to Chega. “We understand that it is preferable to have a provision, even if one does not entirely agree with it, than to have no provision at all”, stressed the vice-president of the PSD bench.
The former leader of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha, went further and directly referred to the position to be adopted by Chega, questioning this party’s deputies whether or not they “want to keep the law in force”. “The challenge is set for Chega. It depends on your position whether there will be a period of ten years of legal stay in national territory to obtain nationality”, he said.
Contrary to the PSD thesis, Livre deputy Paulo Muacho considered that the changes introduced are in some cases marked by “arbitrariness” and raised doubts about constitutionality regarding the loss of nationality acquired for crimes committed.
“This process started badly. The PSD said it spoke to the parties, but there was no dialogue with Livre. It only happened with the PS and Chega”, he stressed, before reinforcing his position that the changes now approved in the specialty will introduce ambiguity in the new legislation.
In turn, the parliamentary leader of the PCP, Paula Santos, declared that the country is facing proposals that constitute “a change for the worse, which means a setback”, creating the figure of “first and second class citizens”.
“An understanding between PSD, Chega, CDS and IL was evident” which came to “worsen the nationality law”, with requirements that “make the attribution” of Portuguese citizenship to immigrants very difficult, while “golden visas continue to be easy”, he criticized.
An identical position on the difference in treatment for those who acquire “golden visas” and immigrants who work in Portugal was expressed at the beginning of the meeting by the coordinator of the Bloco de Esquerda Mariana Mortágua.
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