Eva Cruzeiro stated to the Lusa agency that she did not attend the Constitutional Affairs Committee meeting as she is a substitute member representing the socialist bench in that committee.
The Socialist Party raised the issue involving Eva Cruzeiro at today’s leaders’ conference meeting, as parliamentary sources noted. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Affairs Committee filed a report with the Parliamentary Committee on Transparency and the Statute of Deputies.
Eva Cruzeiro has lodged a complaint against Chega MP Filipe Melo, with the case currently being processed by the Transparency Committee. Conversely, Filipe Melo has filed another complaint against the socialist deputy.
In early November, Eva Cruzeiro requested the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, to initiate an inquiry into Filipe Melo for shouting what she described as racist and xenophobic remarks during a debate on immigration held on October 29, attended by the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro.
“He shouted at me, go back to your land,” wrote the PS deputy.
In the complaint, Eva Cruzeiro argued that, constitutionally, the statement “go back to your land,” directed at a Portuguese citizen based on racial origin, “simultaneously violates the principle of equality, by denying full citizenship based on race; the right to personal identity, by questioning the national identity of the targeted citizen; and the foundational principle of human dignity, by treating her as a second-class citizen.”
“It is evident that the ‘go back to your land’ directed at me did not refer to the city of Lisbon, where we were and where I was born, but to Africa, as is always the case when a Black Portuguese person is attacked in this manner,” she added.
Days later, the President of the Assembly of the Republic accepted the legitimacy of the complaint and formally requested the Transparency Committee to initiate an inquiry into Chega MP Filipe Melo.
In the same document regarding this case, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco also highlighted that it is up to judicial authorities “to assess and determine whether the conduct in question satisfies the constitutive elements of any criminal offense prescribed by the Penal Code, and accordingly, decide on the potential initiation of corresponding criminal procedures.”
As a result of this case, Chega subsequently joined a complaint by its deputy Filipe Melo against socialist Eva Cruzeiro, which is also under review by the Transparency Committee.
According to Filipe Melo, during the same debate with the presence of Minister António Leitão Amaro, Eva Cruzeiro labeled the Chega Parliamentary Group deputies as “racists,” “xenophobes,” and belonging to a party that “should not even exist” under the Constitution.
