PS Socialists are once again calling for the ‘checking’ by the Constitutional Court of a change to the penal code, affecting foreign residents condemned of serious crimes.
Two weeks ago, parliamentary majority of the government (PSD-CDS/PP), CHEGA and Iniciativa Liberal approved a diploma that allows for the stripping of Portuguese nationality for any foreigner sentenced to effective imprisonment of five years or more, for crimes committed within 15 years of obtaining Portuguese citizenship.
That diploma – considered ‘historic’ at the time, because it showed that the government can overcome the hurdles of being a ‘minority’ with the support of right-wing CHEGA – is now on the desk of President Seguro, who himself has only a few days left to refer it, if he sees the need, to the Constitutional Court.
But the court has already intimated that it will not be cowed by a parliamentary ‘majority opinion’, as the ‘voice of the people’ in this case, cannot be confused with Constitutional Law.
All in all, the PS decision ensures that the confusion over nationality legislation in Portugal will continue – and very possibly the long, frustrating queues at AIMA (the agency for integration, migrations and asylum), will also continue. Until authorities are absolutely clear on where this law is heading, it may be ‘politic’ to keep the legalisation of incoming migrants to the bare minimum at which it appears to have been for months now.
To re-cap on the diploma that PS Socialists so object to, it is aimed at foreigners who are found to have committed crimes of murder, slavery, human trafficking, rape, sexual abuse, and crimes against state security. It also covers offences related to terrorist groups, terrorist activities, and the financing of terrorism.
The government, CHEGA and Iniciativa Liberal are seeking to cleanse the country of incoming foreigners who commit these crimes – and ensure that they cannot reapply for Portuguese nationality for a period of between 10-25 years (depending on the seriousness of their offence/s, and to be determined by a judge).
The Constitutional Court’s reason for declaring the original bill unconstitutional was that it violated the principle of equality. Judges argued that applying the accessory penalty of loss of nationality “only to non-original citizens who have committed a criminal offence following acquisition of Portuguese nationality violates the principle of equality enshrined in Article 13 of the Constitution”. This objection will presumably still hold with the slightly re-jigged wording of the redrafted diploma.
Finally, parliament is at liberty to pass legislation that ‘defies the Constitutional Court’. The president has the power to veto such legislation – but he can only do this once. In re-drafting, a subsequent diploma will have to be promulgated, whether or not the president, or the Constitutional Court, agree with it.
Source material: LUSA
