Squatters will be evicted within 48 hours and could face two to five years in prison.

It was the first bill submitted by the Liberal Initiative (IL), on the very day the new legislature began its activities with the discussion of the Government Program. It aimed to fulfill one of the promises made during the May 18 legislative election campaign: a law to punish squatters in an exemplary manner and allow their eviction within 48 hours if they occupied homes illegally, with penalties aggravated in the event of violence. It was approved today by the entire right wing, along with other similar bills subsequently presented by the PSD and Chega.

The PS only voted in favor of the PSD's project, which also resulted in the abstention of the JPP, but the votes against the far left and the PAN to all the proposals, and even with the opposition of the socialists in the IL and CH projects, did not serve to block the decision.

The 48-hour eviction of anyone illegally occupying private property, advocated in the three bills approved by Parliament, will indeed happen. It's certain that squatters will see their penalties at least doubled. Current legislation provides for up to one year in prison, but in the bills now passed, this penalty is doubled. The PSD also wants attempted invasions to be criminalized, with the penalty increased whenever violence is used, the squatter's permanent residence is owned, or there is an intention to generate profit.

In the IL project, in addition to eviction (with "violation of domicile and usurpation of immovable property" added to the set of crimes that allow a judge to force the removal of criminals from the home, as happens in cases of threat, coercion or persecution), at least three years in prison are foreseen for squatters , rising to five years when there is violence, the same criminal framework defended by Chega.

IL passes six diplomas

This was, indeed, a day of victories for the Liberals, who saw six of the party's proposals advance, with just over a month of legislative action remaining. First and foremost, the approval of the establishment of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into INEM (National Institute of Emergency Medicine), approved with abstentions from the PSD, PS, and CDS parties and votes in favor from all other parties. The IL proposed the proposal to "determine the political, technical, contractual, legal, and financial responsibilities related to INEM, including during the strike in late October and early November 2024, as well as those related to the international public tender process for the contracting of emergency medical air transport."

The draft resolution that aims to adopt support measures for Douro winegrowers (in addition to IL, similar legislation was presented by PS, PCP, Chega, PAN and CDS-PP) and the legislation that aims to regulate lobbying (along with those presented by PSD, Chega, PS, CDS and PAN) were also given the green light and will now be discussed in detail with the aim of reaching a common text.

All draft resolutions recommending the government recognize the State of Palestine were rejected by the right wing, while Chega's drafts recommending the government "for now, not recognize Palestine as a sovereign state" and IL's drafts recommending "a balanced and responsible strategy to promote a peaceful and sustainable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" were given the green light and sent to the appropriate committee.

Finally, the IL saw one of its greatest battles go ahead: the permission to make working copies of previously purchased scores for preservation purposes and use in rehearsals and concerts, so that philharmonic orchestras are not at risk of copyright infringement. "We are not advocating that publishers should no longer be compensated for their work or that bands should not pay for the original scores, only that, after paying for the original, they should be able to make copies to preserve them (...) and that the injustice of forcing someone to pay for working copies after having already paid hundreds of euros for the original score be prevented," argued Liberal MP Rodrigo Saraiva. The need to ease restrictions imposed on philharmonic orchestras garnered broad consensus in Parliament.