“This is absolutely unconstitutional,” stated the legal expert in response to the intervention by the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, who oversees immigration affairs.
In Portugal, “the greatest insecurity for people is not immigration, it is the far-right,” and “the nationality law is not an immigration law,” commented Isabel Moreira, highlighting that the PSD opposed previous measures aimed at limiting citizenship allocation.
“There are no automatic losses of nationality, and nationality is only lost by the individual’s choice,” as the “PSD said once, twice, and three times” in response to proposals from Chega in the previous legislature, said Isabel Moreira.
During a debate on the Government’s program at the Assembly of the Republic, Leitão Amaro clarified that “there are no losses of nationalities nor automatic penalties” and that any decision will always be made from “additional sanctions decided by a judge.”
“The law that establishes rights and conditions must set the right and the conditions for the allocation and exercise of those rights, from start to finish,” he explained.
In his statement, the minister mentioned that the government aims to “increase the minimum terms and requirements for obtaining citizenship to moderate the call effect and effectively recognize those who belong to the national community.”
The Prime Minister announced this morning in parliament that the proposal to revise the nationality law will focus on three main axes, including an extension of situations where there may be a loss of nationality, particularly concerning severe “criminal nature” behaviors.
In response to a clarification request from the CDS-PP, Luís Montenegro recalled that the intention to review the nationality law was already part of the AD’s electoral program, which aims for a “more regulated” and “more controlled” immigration policy.
The government’s proposal will be announced “soon” and will include “three axes,” which are not exclusive but essential, as the Prime Minister wished to emphasize.
Among them is “the extension of the period precisely for making the citizenship application through naturalization,” strengthening “the effective connection that candidates must demonstrate, in terms of understanding and integrating our culture, civic and social habits,” as well as an “extension of situations where there may be a loss of nationality due to severe, very serious, particularly criminal behaviors,” listed Luís Montenegro.
