The President of the Republic has requested a preventive review of the constitutionality of the foreign nationals law, a move welcomed by the Socialist Party (PS) due to concerns highlighted during the law’s approval process, said Pedro Delgado Alves, PS deputy, to journalists in parliament.
Pedro Delgado Alves noted that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s request was made with urgency, expressing hopes that the “Constitutional Court provides a decision within the expected timeframe to correct the course of this process, which should never have deviated.”
The PS aims to uphold “regimental and constitutional rules,” with Delgado Alves emphasizing the party’s willingness “to collaborate in building better solutions from the outset.”
“We remain absolutely willing to construct compromise solutions within the parliamentary framework, engaging with everyone. We hope that the President’s intervention brings back reason and careful consideration, which has been lacking over the past weeks in this unprecedentedly urgent process in our 50 years of democracy,” he urged.
The socialist deputy pointed out the “insufficiencies in the manner this law was approved,” according to the President.
“The urgency process prevented proper consideration of the various interests involved, halted necessary hearings, which led to both the Government and the Assembly not gathering essential contributions for a law of this importance, something the President himself ensured by consulting the main stakeholders,” he stated.
The head of state focused on the issue of family reunification, with “strong indications of potential unconstitutionality in the proposed solutions,” as per Delgado Alves.
“The solutions approved by the Government and the majority in the Assembly risk being unconstitutional due to disproportionality,” he added, noting the introduction of “undefined concepts in the law.”
According to Delgado Alves, parliament “almost transfers to the Government and its future legislation the authority to detail how family reunification may occur.”
“The second set of substantial issues highlighted in the President’s request concerns judicial protection, addressing the right to access a court to defend one’s rights,” he observed.
The President of the Republic submitted today to the Constitutional Court the parliamentary decree amending the legal regime of entry, stay, exit, and expulsion of foreign nationals from national territory, approved by the PSD, Chega, and CDS-PP.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa requested preventive oversight of the constitutionality of norms regarding the right to family reunification and conditions for its exercise, the timeframe for application review by the Agency for Integration Migration and Asylum (AIMA), and the right to appeal.
The new regime, which limits job-seeking visas to “qualified work,” restricts immigrant family reunification, and changes the conditions for granting residence permits to CPLP citizens, was approved last Wednesday.
