A statement was made by António Leitão Amaro during a press conference following the Council of Ministers meeting, addressing comments made by André Ventura. Ventura suggested that Chega voted in favor of the new version of the immigration law due to a governmental promise to eventually limit immigrants’ access to social benefits.
“The Government has not made any commitment, now or in the future, to prohibit immigrants from accessing social benefits,” responded the Minister of the Presidency.
Leitão Amaro further remarked that Chega’s idea to prevent access to social benefits, including family allowances for children, for five years was neither postponed nor promised.
“On the contrary, it was clearly rejected both as a precondition and as a subsequent condition for approving the immigration law. I repeat, there was no acceptance, either in the approved law—as I believe it is evident to everyone—or in any conversation, of a current or future discussion of a prohibition, particularly not one lasting five years or any other period,” he declared.
Leitão Amaro noted a separate goal of the Government: “to combat any abuses concerning access to social benefits.”
“There was no commitment, willingness, or delay for discussing or approving a prohibition of five years or any other period on accessing social benefits. But the Government is determined to monitor and combat abuses, discussing how best to prevent and fight them within the parliamentary framework,” he countered.
Without specifying a recipient, the Minister of the Presidency issued a message:
“If someone didn’t have complete information, whether statements are being made in the context of an electoral campaign, whatever it may be, I won’t comment on that because it didn’t exist, it won’t exist, it wasn’t constitutional, and we don’t believe in it as a matter of principle. As such, it was not included in the law and also wasn’t postponed to a later time,” he added.
The second version of the immigration law—following the rejection of a previous government-proposed bill by the Constitutional Court—was approved on Tuesday in its final global vote in parliament. It received support from PSD, Chega, Iniciativa Liberal, and CDS, with opposition from the parliamentary left.
