The leader of the Liberal Initiative, Mariana Leitão, stated on Wednesday that the party “has always been willing to safeguard rules and conditions to ensure regulated immigration,” in reference to the Foreigners’ Law, which was struck down by the Constitutional Court last month. Regarding the State Budget, she noted that the Government will continue “the same line as last year.”
“Concerning the Foreigners and Nationality Law, the Liberal Initiative has always been willing to safeguard rules and conditions to ensure regulated immigration that, on one hand, assures the sustainability of the country and our public services while also ensuring the dignity of people entering our country,” she said in remarks to journalists at the Assembly of the Republic after meeting with the Government.
Mariana Leitão criticized left-wing governments, stating that this “problem” was created by them, “who fundamentally established conditions for our country to end up with completely unregulated immigration, without any form of rules.”
“We remain and will always be open to a solution, although we also warned, at the appropriate time, that the very accelerated manner and by bypassing various procedures which the Government forced to pass this law would also not lead to a proper resolution of issues, as it is now evident with the rejection by the Constitutional Court necessitating a revisit of this law,” she continued.
The IL leader also mentioned that the Government presented “some general guidelines on what it intends to correct in the law,” noting that they have not yet “accessed the document” and it will only “be available in a few days,” at which point they can “conduct a more detailed analysis.”
“We are available; we want a law in force quickly that ensures proportionality, justice, has rules, and allows those rules to guarantee regulated immigration and, from a humanistic viewpoint, the conditions for entering our country,” she reiterated.
And the State Budget for 2026? “Government will follow the same line as last year”
When asked about the State Budget (OE), Mariana Leitão stated that the OE, “from the Government’s point of view, will follow the same line as last year.”
“Regarding partners, the Liberal Initiative is very objective on these issues. Our primary interest is always the country, the country’s interest, the country’s welfare. Any partner currently available for the Government to negotiate with—be it from one side or another—will never create the conditions or have proposals that solve the problems of the Portuguese people. Therefore, regardless of how the OE comes, we will not abandon our proposals; we will submit them,” she said.
The president of IL highlighted that “certainly,” the State Budget “will be far from what their ideas are,” from “what our proposals are, from what we think the country needs,” emphasizing that she has “no doubts” about what the country needs. “Therefore, we will, obviously, also present our proposals in the specific area of the OE.”
Asked whether she felt openness from the Government for this dialogue, Mariana Leitão emphasized that “the Government has always been open to discussions.” “However, it has not been open to actually following the path that the country needs and remains strongly attached to traditional, unambitious practices.”
Mariana Leitão asserted that the party wants “a different country, with better living conditions for people.”
“We want the path to be different and we will continue to work towards that goal,” she stressed.
