Chega has "principle of agreement" with AD on nationality

The president of Chega said this Saturday that he has a "principle of agreement" with the AD regarding some guidelines for changing the nationality law , assuming there was a "commitment to block a series of hearings" requested by the left.

At a press conference at the party's headquarters in Lisbon, André Ventura began by emphasizing "the understanding" and "negotiation" between Chega and AD regarding changes to the foreigners' law and the creation of the new National Foreigners and Borders Unit within the PSP, approved in a specialized session on Friday in parliament.

Noting that, in the case of the nationality law, this was postponed until "the beginning of the next legislative session because there are many hearings to be held, some of which are mandatory," the president of Chega offered a guarantee.

Here, too, a principle of agreement was reached between the two parliamentary leaders [Chega and AD] under some guidelines for changing legislation on nationality, which we hope to be able to implement at the beginning of September,” he said.

Ventura said that both his party and those supporting the government "failed a series of hearings requested by the left on this matter."

"We did it not because we don't want to hear from immigrant associations, whether they're Cape Verdean, Brazilian, Chinese, Indian, or whatever, but because the left didn't want to hold these hearings as a way to improve the text of the law. They wanted to do it as a dilatory measure to delay the process until a possible new political crisis that could reconfigure the Assembly of the Republic and prevent these rules from coming into effect," he explained.

The president of Chega emphasized that he had already said in the meeting with the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, that it was necessary to "move quickly" on this matter and that it was necessary to end this practice of starting "bills and then stopping them due to the political crisis that occurs."

Therefore, Chega and the PSD have committed to blocking a series of hearings so that this process can be expedited and completed in the coming weeks. In other words, we want the change to the nationality law to be a reality by the beginning of the next legislative session at the latest," he noted.

Ventura anticipated that this legislation "will require intervention from the President of the Republic," and likely also from the Constitutional Court, and therefore it is necessary to move forward and achieve results quickly.

"Here too, Chega and the PSD have basic principles to work on, such as the loss of nationality for those who commit crimes. We're discussing whether this will be automatic or not, and the timeframe within which it can and cannot be. We'll leave this for the start of the next legislative session," he added.

The Constitutional Affairs Committee voted on Friday in favor, in the specialty, of changes to the law on foreigners, with a vote against from the left, which alleged violations of the law due to the lack of mandatory opinions.

A government bill and amendments requested by Chega were put to the vote, which concern matters such as family reunification and legal residence times in the country, and were approved by the entire parliamentary right (PSD, CDS-PP, Chega and Iniciativa Liberal).

According to the left, this specialized process lacks opinions from the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) and the Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts (CSTAF). The government's proposal to create a new National Foreigners and Borders Unit within the PSP was also approved, with votes in favor from the PSD, Chega, IL, and CDS, and abstentions from the left.

Although this diploma was approved without votes against, its vote was postponed for about three hours due to a political impasse between Chega and PSD over the issue of the possible payment of a supplement to the agents of this new PSP unit.