The government paid almost 20,000 euros for an external opinion on the Nationality Law.
The office of the Minister of the Presidency signed a contract for the “issuance of a legal opinion” on the revision of the Nationality Law, but did not clarify what the opinion’s contribution was.
The Ministry of the Presidency, overseen by Minister António Leitão Amaro, paid €19,500 for legal consulting services related to the revision of the Nationality Law. The contract, signed on October 27th with JSVS Consulting, Lda., for a period of one month, consists of “the issuance of a specialized legal opinion within the scope of the Constitutional Government Program, chapter ‘Regulated and Humanist Immigration’, with the aim of proceeding with the revision” of the law, according to the document available on the Base portal.
expand for excerpt from 'Contrato_signed_GMP.pdf'
Cláusula 6.a
Especificações da prestação de serviços
O Segundo Outorgante presta os serviços objeto do contrato a celebrar nos termos previstos no presente contrato e na legislação aplicável.
Os serviços a prestar consistem na emissão de parecer jurídico especializado no âmbito do Programa do Governo Constitucional, capítulo “Imigração regulada e humanista”, com intuito de se proceder à revisão da Lei da Nacionalidade, alargando o tempo mínimo de residência e presença efetiva em território nacional, eliminandoa possibilidade de a permanência ilegal ser considerada para efeitos de contagem desse tempo, e assegurando que quem adquire a nacionalidade portuguesa tem uma relação efetiva e uma integração de sucesso no País, reunindo as condições necessárias para assumir os direitos e cumprir os deveres inerentes à nacionalidade.
Os serviços a contratar não incluema representação ou intervenção em processos judiciais.
Some people in the WhatsApp group have weighed in after discussing with some lawyers. The bills should go to the constitutional tribunal in a few days or next week. Because PS doesn’t have the power to refer bills with urgency, it will likely be January or February before parliament is able to take it up again after the tribunal weighs in.
Socialists argue that the “principle of trust” is at stake because the term of the residence permit does not count the time they wait for a decision from the public administration.
Can you clarify this statement? Clearly, PS does have the power to refer this law to TC because they did so. I don’t see how that changes the 20 or 25 day deadline of the TC?
Will this be a full review by the Constitutional Court of all of the changes in the proposed law? The statement attributed to PS suggests their concern is with the start date for counting time toward citizenship, and not necessarily with the change from 5 to 10 years.
Can the president still refer it with urgency even though PS has referred it already? if he doesn’t and the PS non-urgent referral is the only referral, what’s the deadline for the TC to made a judgment? Do they usually take the full amount of time allowed?
My understanding is that the TC can only review parts of the law that are specifically called out, but we haven’t seen the documents that PS will use yet. This is why it may not happen until next week, and we just have to wait. I believe that the president still could refer separate parts of the bill and do so with urgency, but it’s important to note that this is only the second time a 1/5 minority has referred legislation to the TC, so we’re not in well charted waters here.
Let’s not call PS “heroes” yet. Even their initial negotiating position during the legislative process did not fully safeguard against retroactivity, and their later negotiating positions were almost as bad as the law that passed.
It’s also not clear whether PS’s requested review would fully protect our timelines even if the TC deems the challenged provisions unconstitutional, either.
Socialist Party (PS) wants preventive TC review (before promulgation)… a constitutional prerogative that has [only ever] been used twice… In the case of organic laws, a preliminary review of constitutionality can be requested by the Prime Minister or by one-fifth of the deputies - 46 out of 230. [PS holds 58 deputies]
the Socialist parliamentary group is preparing the request to send to the Palácio Ratton [the TC - thanks Chris for spotting that Google Translate boo-boo], which will then have 25 days to issue a decision. The Socialist Party deputies have already been notified of the necessary procedure – in practice, their signatures – since at least 46 signatories are required, and other parties that also voted against (Livre, PCP, Bloco and PAN) will not be invited to join.
[PS] needs 46 signatures to trigger the mechanism and plans to formalize the request next week, with only Socialist deputies signing.
The Constitutional Court has no fixed deadline for preventive review rulings [note PÚBLICO above thinks it’s 25 days?], though such cases typically proceed faster than standard constitutional challenges. The law remains suspended throughout the review process and cannot enter into force until judges issue their determination.
[I don’t know if IMI is taking the following from last night’s PS intervention, or their (admittedly mercurial) objections over the past month or so. But hopefully Sr. Miranda’s constitutional misgivings are finally getting serious attention from those with our futures in their hands?]
The Socialists identified practical cases illustrating legal uncertainty created by the new law. These cases avoid invoking positive discrimination, favoring CPLP and EU citizens who need seven years of residence rather than ten for other nationalities. The approved amendments formalize that the citizenship clock starts only when authorities grant a residence permit, not at application initiation.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa says he needs to wait for that review:
"And now the President’s role, in relation to this law, is to wait for the Constitutional Court, at the request of that number of deputies… to schedule this matter, distribute it, pronounce on the matter, and then send it to the President of the Republic," he stated.
"If [the Constitutional Court] finds it unconstitutional, the President of the Republic is obliged to veto it. If it does not find it unconstitutional, the President of the Republic then has a period to, if necessary, politically reconsider the law,"
“I just arrived from Angola [50th anniversary of independence from PT] and, therefore, I had not yet reviewed either of the decrees. And what I know is what I have just learned from the media.”
I was going to review the diplomas in the coming days; there were eight days for that. Obviously, I will review the diplomas, but at this moment I have nothing more to say, except that I became aware—I didn’t know, as nobody knew—of this initiative from the Socialist Party,"
