“Today Portugal becomes more Portugal.” “Today we vote and decide who our people are.” The statements were made by Minister António Leitão Amaro, in the vote on the new Nationality Law, approved in Parliament this Tuesday night, October 28th. PSD, Chega, IL and CDS and JPP in favor totaled 157 votes in favor, while PS, Livre, PCP, BE and PAN voted against, with 64 votes.
The Government had support from Chega – with whom you made a deal this morning, in addition to the CDS-PP and IL, with André Ventura’s bench being decisive in this approval. “It’s a great day for the Portuguese who have Portuguese blood in their veins, not the ones at AIMA”said deputy Cristina Rodrigues, from Chega, who also attacked the immigrant associations, suggested to give an opinion on the law.
Deputy João Almeida, from CDS-PP, also had a speech similar to Chega’s. “There were advertisements everywhere saying that Portuguese nationality was easy,” he said. For the deputy, such advertisements are “disrespect for history” and stressed that “Being Portuguese has never been and will never be easy.”
On the left side of the plenary, deputy Paulo Muacho criticized the right-wing speeches, citing the fact that visas gold give the right to nationality. “There was never any shame in creating a law that sold nationality for 500 thousand euros”said the parliamentarian.
After the heated discussion, it was a long vote, because of the various replacement texts and proposals from the parties. In the end, what was already known from an early stage remained, when both the PSD and Chega celebrated an understanding between the parties to approve the essence of the law.
The next step is to send the new law to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, for promulgation, veto or sending to the Constitutional Court. Then, if promulgated, it remains to be published in the Official Gazette (DRE).