Livre, PCP and BE promise total opposition to immigration measures

L ivre, PCP and Bloco de Esquerda today expressed their total opposition to the Government's proposals that seek to change the laws on immigration and access to nationality, considering them a social setback, unfair and still dubious in constitutional terms.

These reactions to the measures approved by the Government on Monday, in the Council of Ministers, were transmitted in parliament by the Livre deputy Paulo Muacho, by the parliamentary leader of the PCP, Paula Santos, and by the coordinator of the Left Bloc, Mariana Mortágua.

Both Paula Santos and Paulo Muacho admitted that their parliamentary groups contribute to making it possible for a fifth of the deputies to appeal to the Constitutional Court requesting successive monitoring of legislative changes proposed by the PSD/CDS executive, particularly in matters of loss of nationality.

"From our point of view, there is a risk of unconstitutionality, namely when it is said that someone who has been convicted of a crime is perpetually prevented from acquiring Portuguese nationality", declared the leader of Livre -- a point of view also shared by the leader of the communist bench.

According to article 30 of the Constitution of the Republic, "no penalty involves as a necessary effect the loss of any civil, professional or political rights".

Speaking to journalists, Paulo Muacho accused the Government of creating "a bureaucratic labyrinth to make it as difficult as possible" to regularize immigrants, which, in his view, could lead to "very serious and dramatic situations".

In the case of family reunification, according to Paulo Muacho, the Government intends to "limit as much as possible the possibility of families being together" and classified it as "absolutely shameful that people who have a 'golden' visa are exempt from these rules".

"This Government and the far right in Portugal talk a lot about immigration, they talk a lot about access to nationality, but it was the PSD and CDS that approved a regime for selling nationality in the country, which is the 'golden' visa regime", he accused.

Paulo Muacho also said that the measures approved by the Government are "contradictory" with the statements made by the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Castro Almeida, according to which the country continues to need immigration, particularly to implement the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan) projects.

In turn, Paula Santos accused the PSD/CDS executive of "contributing greatly to fueling the discourse of hate and division in Portuguese society".

"In fact, this clearly reveals the political choices made by the Government and what unites the PSD, CDS and Chega. We are facing changes that represent a negative development in terms of human rights, contributing greatly to leaving immigrants in a situation of greater vulnerability and greater fragility", said the parliamentary leader of the PCP.

Paula Santos said that the measures announced by the Government, if implemented, "will introduce more difficulties for immigrants who, if their situation is not regularized, will become much more vulnerable, including to falling into mafias and trafficking networks."

"The categorization of immigrants, in which some have rights and others do not, is also unacceptable - and this is another element that contributes to illegal immigration and labor trafficking. There are double standards here," he noted, in an allusion to the 'golden' visa regime.

"Therefore, we are faced with changes that are negative and that constitute a setback", concluded Paula Santos.

The deputy of the Left Bloc, Mariana Mortágua, considered that "the reform that the Government presents for immigration is inhumane, hypocritical and opportunistic".

"It is inhumane because it prevents families from reuniting, disregarding international law. It is hypocritical because the requirements that are asked of all those who want to reside and have Portuguese nationality, if they were applied to all Portuguese people, would probably not be met. We cannot demand of others what is not required of those who already have nationality," he said.

According to Mariana Mortágua, the measures announced on Monday by the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, "are opportunistic because a Government that has no principles, no values, that believes in nothing, that said that family reunification was an important measure of humanism and integration of immigrants, today prevents this family reunification".

"Those who don't believe in anything are dangerous. And that is the case of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who is willing to give in to the far-right's rhetoric, is willing to adopt Chega's measures in the name of an electoral dispute," he added.

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