Loss of nationality for serious crimes? Measure is “politically shocking”, says constitutionalist

Constitutionalist Vital Moreira considers the idea of ​​stripping naturalized citizens of their nationality when they commit serious crimes to be “politically shocking.” The proposal, the government admitted last week, will be one of the changes to the Nationality Law that the executive wants to push forward and which will be debated this Monday in the Council of Ministers.

In the debate on the government's programme last Thursday, MP Isabel Moreira warned that the measure is unconstitutional. For Vital Moreira, regardless of the issue of constitutionality, this is a “politically shocking proposal, as it goes against our humanist penal tradition since the establishment of the democratic regime”. “Not everything that is not unconstitutional is politically acceptable in a democratic State”, wrote the former judge of the Constitutional Court on the blog Causa Nossa .

Vital Moreira stresses that it is worth asking whether, “in light of the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination of criminal penalties, inherent in a State governed by the rule of law, it makes sense to create an additional penalty of such enormous severity, specifically targeting a certain category of people, and punishing the same crime more severely, simply because it was committed by citizens with immigrant origins”.

Another objective of the executive headed by Luís Montenegro is to restrict immigrants' access to Portuguese nationality, increasing the minimum period of residence in the country from five to 10 years.

In Vital Moreira's opinion, "those who have lived and worked in Portugal for more than five years, pay taxes and social security contributions, speak Portuguese and comply with the laws, and most likely have a family and children in school, have as much or more right to acquire Portuguese nationality - and by extension European citizenship - and to have political rights, than the children of Portuguese people who were born and have always lived abroad, whose parents were no longer born in Portugal, who do not pay taxes here nor are subject to national laws, who often no longer speak Portuguese and who only want nationality to obtain a national passport and EU citizenship".

And admitting that there are “many fictitious nationals, without any relationship of affection or interest with the national community”, the former judge of the TC is certain that “among them certainly does not include the majority of naturalized residents in Portugal”. He therefore concludes that increasing the years of residence required for the naturalization of immigrants “will only unfairly delay their full integration into the national community”.

Constitutionalists believe that the changes that the Government wants to implement show “that the process of “Cheguization” of the PSD has been set in motion, with the AD Government preparing to adopt anti-immigration initiatives typical of Chega, which will surely have its support”. “Motivated by petty ideological positions, they will only fuel the anti-immigrant prejudices that the populist far-right unscrupulously nurtures”, fears Vital Moreira.

The Prime Minister said on June 17, in the debate on the Government's program, that the proposal to revise the Nationality Law will have three main axes, including an expansion of the situations in which nationality may be lost, namely serious behaviors “of a criminal nature”.

In response to a request for clarification from the CDS, the Prime Minister recalled that the intention to review the nationality law was already included in the AD's electoral program and that it involves a “more regulated” and “more controlled” immigration policy.

The Government's proposal will be known “soon” and will cover “three axes”, which are not unique, but which the Prime Minister wanted to highlight as “essential”.

These include “the extension of the deadline precisely for the application for nationality through naturalization to be made”, a reinforcement of “the effective connection that candidates must demonstrate, from the point of view of understanding and integrating our culture, into our civic and social habits”, as well as an “extension of the situations in which nationality may be lost due to serious, very serious behavior, particularly of a criminal nature”, listed Luís Montenegro.

The parliamentary leader of the CDS, Paulo Núncio, had argued that the Nationality Law “is a priority” for the country and that its attribution cannot be reduced to a “simple bureaucratic” process, but to “a person who effectively has a real connection to Portugal, its culture, its traditions and its values”.

Greater control over immigration is one of the main lines of the programme of the second executive headed by Luís Montenegro, with plans in place to extend the minimum period of residence and effective presence in national territory and eliminate the possibility of illegal stay being considered for counting purposes.