The Portuguese Parliament is set to discuss today, initiated by the Chega party, regulations regarding the granting of Portuguese nationality, shortly after the Government introduced proposals to amend the law.
The central theme of the debate is “the lack of control in citizenship allocation and the necessity to limit family reunification.”
The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, will attend the debate, according to a government official.
This marks the first urgent debate of the new legislative session and is also the first item on today’s plenary session agenda.
The discussion follows shortly after the Government’s announcement of its intent to propose various amendments to the Nationality Law.
In recent days, the president of Chega expressed a willingness to negotiate these amendments, indicating that his party will not pose “an obstacle” to their approval in parliament.
Nonetheless, André Ventura asserted that changes to the Nationality Law should be effective and “go even further.”
The Chega leader stated that this debate would be a preliminary opportunity to understand if there will be a “convergence of positions” and hopes the Government will “show openness to addressing some important issues for change.”
André Ventura also announced that Chega will propose the formation of a parliamentary inquiry committee to investigate the actions of previous PS and PSD/CDS governments in granting nationality and residency to foreign citizens.
On Monday, the Minister of the Presidency indicated that one proposal includes empowering judges to declare, as an additional sanction, the loss of nationality for naturalized citizens of less than ten years who commit certain “serious crimes” with actual prison sentences of five years or more.
The Government also aims to extend the minimum legal residency period required for obtaining Portuguese citizenship: seven years for citizens from Portuguese-speaking countries and ten years for others, with the period starting from the issuance of the residency permit.
