Draft law on stripping immigrants of citizenship for serious crimes set to fail

A proposal to allow Portugal to strip naturalised citizens of their nationality for committing serious crimes appears set to fail in parliament after coalition partners and opposition party CHEGA have fallen out over the fine print.

The legislation, which would introduce loss of nationality as an additional criminal penalty in certain cases, was unanimously ruled unconstitutional by Portugal’s Constitutional Court, before being vetoed by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Under Portugal’s Constitution, overturning a presidential veto in these circumstances requires a two-thirds majority of MPs present, provided that number exceeds an absolute majority of parliament.

During today’s parliamentary debate, the governing PSD and its coalition partner CDS-PP distanced themselves from CHEGA’s broader proposal – arguing that any revised law must comply with the Constitutional Court’s ruling.

PSD deputy António Rodrigues said parliament has a duty to respect constitutional requirements by significantly reducing the list of offences that could result in the loss of nationality.

CDS lawmaker João Almeida urged CHEGA to accept a more limited version, focused primarily on terrorism and crimes against the state, suggesting that parliament could consider expanding the list of offences at some point in the future.

“Out of stubbornness, we cannot end up with no loss of nationality at all for crimes committed against the community,” said Almeida – suggesting that failure to reach a compromise would amount to “a victory for the left.”

But none of this cut any ice with CHEGA, whose leader André Ventura has accused the PSD and CDS of “abandoning agreements previously negotiated with his party”.

Ventura described it as “shameful” that the revised proposal excluded offences such as slavery, child sexual abuse and human trafficking.

Criticising what he called the coalition’s “minimalist” approach, he said: “Those who try to please the left end up with the left.”

Pundits have interpreted Ventura’s comments as indication that CHEGA will be voting against the coalition’s amendments. If this happens, the PSD/CDS proposal has no realistic prospect of securing the 116 votes needed for an absolute parliamentary majority – as all the left-wing parties are expected to oppose the measure.

Liberal Initiative also distances itself

The debate has also exposed opposition from Iniciativa Liberal (IL).

IL MP, Jorge Miguel Teixeira, rejected both CHEGA’s attempt to revive the original legislation, and the government’s revised proposal, arguing that the most significant reforms have already been made through recent changes to Portugal’s nationality and immigration laws – and that his party has always had reservations about introducing loss of nationality as an additional criminal sanction.

“For Liberal Initiative, this debate ends here,” he said.

This may not be the case. André Ventura has said in the past that if legislation is not passed, he wants to take the issue to the country, in the form of a referendum. He said in the wake of the Constitutional Court rebuff,”we will ask the Portuguese whether they agree or not that those who commit crimes should lose their Portuguese nationality – because this is getting tiring, already”.

sources: Lusa/ Expresso/ SIC Notícias