The parliamentary leader of the Socialist Party, Eurico Brilhante Dias, conveyed to journalists the party’s decision regarding the government’s proposals on immigration and nationality laws, which were approved to proceed directly to the specialty stage.
“We acknowledge that the government, in the matters of immigration and nationality—where it presented two law proposals that are manifestly unconstitutional and would have been opposed by the PS—has eventually aligned with the PS proposal,” stated the former Secretary of State.
On Thursday, the PS requested the government to allow the direct transfer of these laws to the specialty stage without a general vote. However, the PSD opposed, insisting on a political need for parties to take a stand on each of the bills during the general phase of discussion.
“We now hope that during the specialty work, not only can the unconstitutionality issues be removed, but above all, those two bills can be made fairer for people,” emphasized Eurico Brilhante Dias.
The president of the PS Parliamentary Group acknowledged that what his party deemed essential, “to halt approval in general and debate in specialty, was what PS Secretary-General José Luís Carneiro proposed and what was ultimately considered.”
Eurico Brilhante Dias noted that “one of the architects of the Portuguese Republic’s Constitution, Professor Jorge Miranda, identified a series of unconstitutionalities” in the government’s bills.
“The PS, through its intervention, managed to halt this process in the vote, and now it’s time to work together on solutions for the Portuguese,” he added.
Regarding negotiations over these bills with the government, Eurico Brilhante Dias reiterated that discussions with the executive were inconclusive.
This morning, “the government communicated to us that the bills would proceed without a general vote to specialty. Therefore, this morning, at the start of the debate, the PS Parliamentary Group was already aware of the government’s decision,” he clarified.
Before the journalists, Eurico Brilhante Dias mentioned that the PS presented an amendment proposal to include in the IRS reduction the salary premium for younger people.
“We proposed this to ensure that younger people with lower wages benefit not only from the young IRS measure—a provision from past PS governments—but also to secure an equivalent salary bonus to the tuition fee refund,” he explained.
Eurico Brilhante Dias further noted that Chega and the PSD “announced an IRS reduction agreement, which the PS also supported, but the signed agreement will allow, for instance, a young worker, nurse, doctor, lawyer, or teacher to have a lower IRS reduction than, for example, a deputy.”
“In specialty, we will continue to advocate for an IRS reduction for everyone, but an IRS reduction with social justice,” he concluded.
