In a press conference held at the party headquarters in Lisbon, André Ventura emphasized the “understanding” and “negotiations” between Chega and the AD regarding amendments to the immigration law and the creation of the new National Unit for Foreigners and Borders within the PSP, which were approved during the parliamentary session on Friday in committee.
Regarding the nationality law, which has been postponed to the “beginning of the next legislative session due to many mandatory hearings,” the leader of Chega made a firm statement.
“A principle of agreement has been established between the two parliamentary leaderships [Chega and AD] on some guiding lines for amending the nationality legislation, which we hope to finalize by the beginning of September,” he stated.
Ventura noted that both his party and the government-supporting parties “blocked numerous hearings requested by the left on this issue.”
“We did not do this because we do not want to hear immigrant associations, whether they are from Cape Verde, Brazil, China, India, or elsewhere, but because the left aimed to use these hearings not to improve the legal text, but as a delaying tactic to postpone the process until a possible new political crisis that could reconfigure the National Assembly and prevent these norms from coming into effect,” he explained.
Chega’s president stressed that he had already informed Prime Minister Luís Montenegro of the need to “move quickly” on this matter and to stop the practice of starting “bills and then halting them due to political crises.”
“Thus, Chega and PSD committed to blocking several hearings so that this process can proceed quickly and be finalized in the coming weeks; in other words, we want the amendment to the nationality law to become a reality by the beginning of the next legislative session at the latest,” he emphasized.
Ventura anticipated that this legislation “will require intervention from the President of the Republic,” and probably from the Constitutional Court as well, making it necessary to advance and achieve results swiftly.
“Chega and PSD also have foundational principles to work on, such as the loss of nationality for those who commit crimes, where the discussion will be whether it will be automatic or not, and over what time frame it can or cannot occur. We will leave that for the beginning of the next legislative session,” he added.
The Constitutional Affairs Committee voted favorably, in committee, on the amendments to the immigration law, with objections from the left citing legal violations due to the lack of required opinions.
A government bill and Chega-requested amendments on family reunification and legal residency periods on national territory were considered, having been approved by the entire parliamentary right (PSD, CDS-PP, Chega, and Iniciativa Liberal).
According to the left, the process lacks opinions from the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) and the Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts (CSTAF).
The proposal to create the new National Unit for Foreigners and Borders within the PSP was also approved, with votes in favor from PSD, Chega, IL, and CDS, and abstentions from the left.
Although this bill was approved without opposition, its vote was delayed for about three hours due to a political standoff between Chega and PSD over the potential payment of a supplement to agents of the new PSP unit.
