José Luís Carneiro delivered a speech at a session held tonight at the FAUL of PS regarding the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026), beginning with two notes on current affairs. The first was a critique of the “hate messages” disseminated through recent campaign posters by André Ventura in his presidential bid.
“And I want to leave another message, this one directed at the Minister of the Presidency, Leitão Amaro, whose recent statements regarding the Nationality Law are unacceptable,” he condemned.
According to the socialist leader, the issue arose when the Minister of the Presidency claimed “that the PS was promoting social reengineering through immigration to achieve political ends.”
“It is an absolutely unacceptable statement, which demands a public correction from one of the most important Ministers in the political architecture of the Government,” he insisted.
On Friday, the Minister of the Presidency accused the PS of “wanting to repeat the mistake made in past immigration policy” and, with objections to the nationality law, wanting “to complete the work of demographic and political reengineering” in the country.
António Leitão Amaro was questioned at a press conference after the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers regarding the expectation of the nationality law being passed only with Chega, following PS’s lament over the lack of agreement with the government-supporting PSD/CDS-PP benches.
“What seems to be guiding and commanding the PS’s position is a desire to repeat the immigration policy mistake,” he initially criticized.
Minister Leitão Amaro stated that socialist governments “facilitated the entry of about a million people,” and now the PS wants “to facilitate the entry and granting of nationality to another million people.”
“It often seems like the PS wants to finish the demographic and political reengineering work they launched with the expression of interest,” he accused.
