In statements to journalists in parliament, the leader of Chega announced that the party will propose to the plenary a measure to automatically strip Portuguese nationality from those convicted of serious crimes, ensuring that they do not become stateless.
Another proposal concerns the fraudulent acquisition of citizenship, insisting that it should “never become established.”
“In our legislation, if nationality has been obtained, even through a fraudulent process, after 10 years the situation is settled in the legal order, that is, it becomes established, regardless of the original sin, the original moment. We understand that this cannot happen because if it was acquired in bad faith or fraudulently at the beginning, it makes no sense for it to become established in the legal order after 10 years,” argued André Ventura.
The president of Chega did not disclose how the party will vote overall on the revision of the Nationality Law.
“I think we have to work, Chega, the government, and the majority, to have a Nationality Law. If this is not possible, it will be regrettable, but I want to have a clear conscience that I did everything possible to have a Nationality Law and that our deputies worked to the limit to achieve it,” he stated.
Ventura mentioned that negotiations will continue and expressed belief that these proposals will be accepted by the PSD.
“It is possible that changes are still ongoing; the rules allow for changes up until the start of voting. We will continue negotiations through the rest of this night, but the two standards proposed for consideration now are these, and changes are in these terms,” he said.
With the opposition already declared by PS, Livre, BE, and PCP, on Tuesday, in the final global vote, Chega will have to vote alongside PSD, CDS, and IL to reach the qualified majority of 116 votes needed out of the 230 deputies in active service.
