In response to questions from journalists, following an initiative by the Portuguese Olympic Committee, in a restaurant in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that he had just learned that the PS parliamentary group will request preventive inspection of the parliament’s decree amending the Nationality Law.
“And now the role of the President, in relation to this law, is to expect the Constitutional Court, at the request of that number of deputies, which unless I am mistaken are 50, schedule this matter, distribute it, comment on the matter, and then send it to the President of the Republic“, he stated.
“Se [o Tribunal Constitucional] understands that it is unconstitutional, the President of the Republic is obliged to veto it. If he does not understand that it is unconstitutional, the President of the Republic has a deadline to eventually consider the law politically”, added the head of state.
When asked if he did not also intend to ask the Constitutional Court to preventively monitor this parliamentary decree, or the other that provides for the loss of nationality as an additional penalty, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied: “I arrived from Angola and, therefore, I had not yet appreciated either of the diplomas. And what I know is what I just learned from the media.”
“At this point, I’m not saying anything else, because I would appreciate the diplomas in the next few days, there were eight days for that. Obviously, I will appreciate the diplomas, but at this moment I have nothing more to say, other than that I found out, I didn’t know, as no one did, about this PS initiative”, added Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The decree that amends the Nationality Law and another that provides for the loss of nationality as an additional penalty, both originating from a law proposal from the PSD/CDS-PP Government, were approved on October 28with 157 votes in favor, from PSD, Chega, IL, CDS-PP and JPP, and 64 votes against, from PS, Livre, PCP, BE and PAN, and went to the Palácio de Belém on Tuesday.
The Constitution establishes that legislative initiatives on the “acquisition, loss and reacquisition of Portuguese citizenship” take the form of organic law.
In the case of organic laws, within eight days from the date of receipt of the decrees, in addition to the President of the Republic, also the Prime Minister and a fifth of the deputies — 46 out of 230 — can request preventive assessment of any of their norms, in accordance with the Constitution.
In these cases, the Constitution determines that “the President of the Republic cannot promulgate decrees” qthat correspond to organic laws “without eight days having passed after their receipt or before the Constitutional Court has ruled on them, when its intervention has been requested”.
The decree that reviews the Nationality Law, among other changes, increases the deadlines for foreigners legally residing in Portugal to acquire Portuguese nationality and restricts its attribution to those born in Portugal.
The parliamentary decree that amends the Penal Code to create the additional penalty of loss of nationality can apply to anyone who is a national of another State and is sentenced to an effective prison sentence of four years or more, within ten years after acquiring Portuguese nationality.
These two decrees were approved with the same vote, by two thirds of the deputies, a majority that allows for their eventual confirmation even if they are declared unconstitutionals by the Constitutional Court.