The Constitutional Court (TC) “decided by a majority not to rule on the unconstitutionality” of the parliamentary decree changing the rules for granting nationality to descendants of Sephardic Jews, which the President of the Republic had sent to the TC for preventive review.
The judges of the TC considered that the proposal, in essence, “does not harm the legitimate expectations of the applicants for nationality, nor does it directly jeopardize the lives of its recipients, or the dignity of the human person,” said its president, José João Abrantes, from the court’s headquarters in Lisbon, quoted by RTP.
“The precepts in question do not materialize any restriction of rights, freedoms and guarantees, nor do they violate the principle of the protection of trust,” according to the principle of the rule of law, concluded José João Abrantes.
José João Abrantes clarified that what was at issue was “article 6 of the decree”, which “contains a transitional regime applicable to naturalization applications submitted between September 1, 2022 and the entry into force of the new decree, by descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews expelled from Portugal at the end of the 15th century”.
The ruling in question will be available on the TC’s website later today, he said.
The President of the Republic submitted the decree to the Constitutional Court on January 26, considering that it could aggravate the hostage situation in Gaza.
In a statement, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that “the amendment to the nationality law, with effects applicable to processes that are still underway, could aggravate the situation of Israeli hostages in Gaza who have pending applications for Portuguese nationality”.
This effect “could be considered to undermine the principles of trust and the dignity of the human person, as well as, objectively, the right to life, since a Portuguese-Israeli hostage has already been released on the basis of her Portuguese nationality.”
The changes to the nationality law were approved in Parliament on January 5, with a majority of PS, IL, BE, PAN and Livre MPs voting in favor, PSD and three PS MPs abstaining and Chega and PCP voting against.
