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This Friday, Parliament approved amendments to the Nationality Law, whose proposal was initially vetoed by the President of the Republic for not being sufficiently inclusive, since it discriminated against couples without children or with children already born in Portugal. The amendments were approved with votes in favor of the PS, BE, PCP, PAN, PEV and the non-attached deputies Joacine Katar Moreira and Cristina Rodrigues. PSD, CDS and Chega voted against the proposal and the Liberal Initiative (IL) deputy abstained. The proposed amendments tabled by BE and IL were also voted on, but were rejected.
The diploma approved this Friday provides, like the previous one, that a foreigner married or in common-law union with a Portuguese for more than three years may acquire Portuguese nationality. But it eliminates the rule that prevented this possibility from being extended to foreigners who have children in common with a Portuguese, and therefore already Portuguese, even if they have been together for less than three years, since it “harms couples without children”, including those that don’t have them. you can have them.
The new Nationality Law also provides for the attribution of Portuguese nationality at birth to the children of legal immigrants who live in Portugal for one year.
BE proposed that the granting of nationality does not depend on the duration of the marriage or de facto union, but the text was rejected with the votes against by PS, PSD, CDS, CH, IL and Mrs. Cristina Rodrigues. The socialist Constança Urbano de Sousa considered that the blockade diploma would open the door “to the violation of the law” and would be “taxable”, highlighting that the nationality law cannot serve to manage migratory flows. IL, for its part, intended to reduce the couple’s minimum period of life together to two years, but the proposal was unsuccessful with the votes against PS, PSD, PCP, PEV, CH, CDS.
Hours before, in the debate, left-wing deputies had already indicated that they intended to approve the changes indicated by the President of the Republic. For Beatriz Gomes Dias, from BE, the veto would be an “opportunity to remove some obstacles that prevent the full integration of immigrants in Portugal” and the communist António Filipe was pleased that the “conditions to pacify this issue” were finally met. . .
Despite the favorable vote of the PAN, Nelson Silva [deputado que se encontra temporariamente a substituir André Silva] He affirmed that Marcelo’s veto is “at least strange”, since it raises doubts about a law that he promulgated in 2018. “This veto seems to want to hide under the formalism a greater divergence that, for convenience, should not be assumed”, he considered .
On the right, no praise was heard, especially from the PSD, CDS and Chega benches who criticized the changes introduced. On the side of the PSD, which voted against the projects, the deputy Catarina Rocha Ferreira considered that the legislation under discussion “treats the children of foreigners born in Portugal better than the Portuguese themselves and asked Parliament to reflect and avoid that In the long run, draw a path that automatically assigns Portuguese nationality to anyone born in Portugal.
Telmo Correia, from CDS, criticized the reduction of the terms to grant nationality, from five to two and now to one year. “It is a mistake that this initiative does not prevent, but rather encourages,” he said. The centrist considered it “an absolute error” that cannot be distinguished between those who have a legal or illegal residence (the diploma that went to Belém only approves that the children of legal immigrants who reside in Portugal for a year can be Portuguese by birth ), fearing devaluation of Portuguese nationality.
For André Ventura, from Chega, the veto of the President of the Republic was “tactical” and the PS “yielded to the extreme left”, also criticizing that there is no distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. “It is a nationality close to being a criminal,” he said.
Joacine Katar Moreira, a non-registered deputy, considered that “not much progress has been made in improving the current nationality law”, but points out the “enormous impact of the advances” towards “a more framed legislation with a more humanizing perspective” . .
On Thursday, the vice president of the socialist bench, Constança Urbano de Sousa, had already said that the PS would “fully respond” to the objections. “The main objective of this law is to deepen the right to land, so that the children of immigrants can have Portuguese nationality when they are born in the national territory,” she justified.
PS and PAN want to protect digital rights
In addition to the amendments to the Nationality Law, Parliament approved the proposals of the PS and the PAN to approve a Bill of Digital Rights.
Proposals on fundamental rights in the digital age were sent to the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, with the vote in favor of the proponents (and the unregistered deputy Cristina Rodrigues, in the case of the PAN proposal) and the votes against IL and CH.
The creation of a Charter of Digital Rights will aim to alleviate the inequality of access to the Internet, whether by income, geographical area or qualifications, the consecration of the right of neutral access to the Internet, the transparency of public entities and the strengthening of the right to the information of citizens and the creation of the figure of popular digital action that allows citizens and associations representing consumers to ensure the defense of citizens’ digital rights.
Higher technical courses with enrollment limits.
A general draft of the PAN law was also approved, which limits the change in the value of tuition fees for higher professional technical courses and second and third cycle courses of studies taught in public institutions of higher education, with votes to in favor of PS, BE, PAN, IL and the unregistered deputy Cristina Rodrigues, vote against the PSD. The remaining banks abstained.
BE and PCP also proposed a vote that suggested, respectively, the establishment of a maximum cap for tuition fees in the 2nd and 3rd cycle of higher and postgraduate education and the total elimination of tuition fees in higher education in the Public Sector (set at 607 euros for integrated degrees and master’s degrees). Both proposals were fought with the vote against the PS and the PSD.
Rent for people with pets will be discussed.
The deputies unanimously approved the proposal of the PAN and the proposal of the non-registered deputy initially chosen by the PAN Cristina Rodrigues, to guarantee non-discrimination in access to housing by those who own pets. However, the two proposals, which are sent to the commission, received criticism from almost all parliamentary seats and are expected to undergo specialty changes.
María Manuel Rola, from BE, highlighted the economic impact of the pandemic, recalling that access to housing has implications for health and that, therefore, it is urgent to protect tenants. “We must include proposals that reinforce coexistence between all the inhabitants of the building,” suggested the BE deputy, who will vote in favor.
Mariana Silva, from the ENP, says that “this is a difficult path” and that care must be guaranteed so that there are no setbacks in the conquests.
The socialist Pedro Delgado Alves said that it is important to “reconcile interests” and considered that there is a basic problem in diplomas, since it equates the non-discrimination clause applied to human rights (non-discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, for example). “If we are talking about a T0 or T1 where the impact of an animal can be great, we cannot apply the same law. We must identify the circumstances in which this right must be safeguarded, ”explained the Socialist deputy, who was available for a“ more balanced ”proposal.
On the part of IL, João Cotrim de Figueiredo insisted on the distinction between animal rights and human rights and asked that the guarantees not be confused, defending the autonomy of landowners. “Animals are not people and the greatest proof of love and respect is not treating them as such,” he said. João Gonçalves Pereira, from CDS, also considered that the State cannot force the owner to rent the house to a tenant if he understands that the best thing is that there are no animals in the space.
On the side of the Social Democrats, Márcia Passos considers that the issue “is not well situated in principle” and that, excluding social housing, forcing an owner to rent can translate into a “difficult rental mechanism for those looking for a house ”, including the payment of insurance premiums or requests for greater security, which makes access to housing difficult. “It seems wrong for us to create a destabilizing element in the lease,” he said, although he admits reflection in the area of specialty.
Pregnant women with the right to accompany someone?
Parliament is one step closer to putting pressure on the Government and the General Directorate of Health to guarantee the right of pregnant women to have a companion at all times during pregnancy and childbirth, which is not always guaranteed by the limitations it generates the pandemic. In total, four diplomas were voted (PAN, BE, IL and unregistered deputy Cristina Rodrigues) and all were approved with votes in favor of PS, BE, PAN, CH, IL and unregistered deputies. The PCP and ENP voted in favor of the PAN and BE proposal, but abstained from the other two.
The final text of the proposal initially presented by the PAN that alters banking access to the Bank of Portugal was also corrected. Inês de Sousa Real, from the PAN, also called for the BE and PCP to reconsider for not supporting the “central bloc”, but the final diploma was even below the intentions of the PAN to create a five-year period of disgust among the exercise of functions in the Government in portfolios in the area of Finance or between functions in private banking and in consultants and auditors linked to the Bank of Portugal.
