Civic action:
Even with €20k in external legal advice last month, the Government still forged ahead with amendments to start Nationality year counting on arbitrary residence card dates with “No discernible reason.”
Someone’s an idiot here… not sure who yet 
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.
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Everyone gets to be an idiot here, including us unfortunately.
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We investors certainly are being played for fools, yes 
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PS has referred the law to the Constitutional Court
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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.
Sounds like a deliberate plan to collect biometrics fees that are now packed between Jan-May.
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Is good air cover for President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to now do the same 
Non-paywalled news story also available on SIC NOTÍCIAS:
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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.
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Interesting. I didn’t know parliamentary parties could even do that. And looks like it’s pretty rare. Good on PS.
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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?
Only the president can send a bill to the court with urgency, which means an 8 day timeline.
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.
If the president also refers the law to TC, does his refer supercede that of PS so that it would have urgency?
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.
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Thanks. And SIC just posted this update too. The President won’t say much as he just learned about the PS initiative. Lei da Nacionalidade: Marcelo vai aguardar decisão do Tribunal Constitucional após pedido de fiscalização do PS - SIC Notícias
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Here is the IMI version of the article regarding the move by PS (my new heroes!) today. Portugal's Socialists Bypass President, Send Citizenship Law to Constitutional Court - IMI Daily
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Thank you to everyone who sent thoughtful letters to PS party members. It seems to have helped.
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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.
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