Parliamentary leader says party hopes government won’t implement changes “suddenly”
Portugal’s PS Socialists – now the country’s 3rd political force, behind right-wing CHEGA – have appeared unconvinced by the government’s plans for changes to the law on immigration, saying their initial assessment of the various measures is “negative”.
How this will affect the way forwards hinges on the attitude of CHEGA, which traditionally has been in favour of drastically limiting immigration from under-privileged countries.
Early reactions from CHEGA have shown that the party believes the government is “on the right track”.
If backed by CHEGA, the government’s measures will pass – but CHEGA has stressed it wants to negotiate, and that the measures as they have been presented are still “insufficient”.
As for PS Socialists – the party which essentially threw the country’s doors open to immigrants with the ‘manifestation of interest mechanism’ that AD has since closed – parliamentary leader Pedro Delgado Alves has said: “The initial assessment we are making is not positive. We hope that the Government will be willing to not embark on a sudden change, without discussing many matters that have achieved broad consensus over the years”.
“With regard to laws on foreigners and nationality, it is essential that a consensus is maintained around the evidence of the facts – and that this is the basis for legislative changes”, he added.
In other words, according to Pedro Delgado Alves, the measures to be approved by the PSD/CDS executive should not be based “on perceptions”, writes Lusa.
“And this point is very important because it represents something transversal to these measures. We are faced with a set of changes that we do not understand how they directly solve problems that the Government is trying to identify”, Alves added.
Source material: LUSA
