At a press conference at Chega’s national headquarters in Lisbon, André Ventura claimed that serious crimes are increasing in Portugal, linking criminal activity, particularly drug trafficking, to illegal immigration.
“That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if we need some form of state of emergency to respond to the crime we’re witnessing in Portugal. This is indeed the word: a kind of state of emergency, like we had in the past, to give more powers to the police to arrest, to give more powers to the police to shoot when they have to, to give more powers to the police to ensure public order,” he argued.
André Ventura, who also spoke as the president of Chega during this press conference, addressed the topic of crime fighting primarily as a presidential candidate, noting that about two months remain until the presidential elections on January 18.
“That’s what I’m here for: I won’t be afraid of any differentiated legal status or a kind of state of emergency that is to give extraordinary power to authorities, the police, and other judicial and administrative authorities, to combat crime, to arrest those who must be arrested, and to ensure quick trials for those who need to be swiftly judged,” he stated.
The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic provides for the state of emergency and the state of siege as exceptional regimes, without which “the organs of sovereignty cannot, jointly or separately, suspend the exercise of rights, freedoms, and guarantees.”
These two regimes are intended for “cases of actual or imminent aggression by foreign forces, grave threat or disturbance of democratic constitutional order, or public calamity.” They require a proposal from the President of the Republic, authorization from the Assembly of the Republic, in consultation with the Government, and have a maximum duration of fifteen days, except in cases of war, though they can be renewed.
