A new clash is anticipated between the Constitutional Court and the Government, this time over the Nationality Law. Judges will announce their decision at the start of next week. The Socialist Party had requested a review.
The Constitutional Court will announce its decision on the constitutionality of the new Nationality Law on December 15th, next Monday. The judges at the Ratton Palace will publicly read the main points of the ruling, an act usually reserved for the most politically important or high-profile decisions. According to newspaper, 'observador', this was confirmed by an official source from the Constitutional Court in a written response sent to them.
It should be recalled that the Socialist Party (PS) , anticipating the President of the Republic and calculating a majority it believes to be favorable to it , decided to request a preventive review of the Nationality Law. Submitted on Wednesday, November 19th, the constitutional judges were obliged to comply with a maximum deadline of 25 days to issue a decision—a deadline that ends, precisely, next Monday.
The Constitutional Court's decision is not yet known, but within Luís Montenegro's government, a new power struggle with Ratton is anticipated . In fact, the Social Democrats' discomfort with the Constitutional Court has been increasing dramatically in recent months. The decision to reject the Immigration Law was very poorly received both inside and outside the government, and things have only worsened since then.
The request by the President of the Constitutional Court, José João Abrantes, to be heard urgently during the discussion of the State Budget was seen as, at the very least, bizarre . Ratton's budgetary demands ended up dominating the last day of the State Budget debate, with the opposition (PS and Chega at the forefront) managing to impose a reinforcement of 1.6 million euros on the Government.
Symbolic but even more revealing was the episode involving José João Abrantes at the solemn session of November 25th. The Social Democrats did not fail to notice that the president of the Constitutional Court made a point of requesting and carrying a red carnation , joining the 'war of flowers ' that ended up marking the day in Parliament. For the PSD, the signal was obvious: José João Abrantes leads a "socialist cell" in the Constitutional Court which, as far as it depends on him, will try to create obstacles to the governance of Luís Montenegro — and this is where the new Nationality Law comes in.
In a “mechanism used for the first time in the history of Portuguese democracy,” the PSD and CDS deputies submitted two documents totaling more than 40 pages contesting the arguments used by the PS before the Constitutional Court. “We understand that the PS did not present the requests for preventive review on grounds of unconstitutionality, but only and solely because it wanted to acknowledge the political differences it expressed in the discussion,” justified the Social Democrat António Rodrigues at the time.
The pressure from the parliamentary groups supporting the government is significant , as is the pressure from the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party points to unconstitutional aspects in eight provisions of the two decrees on nationality, arguing that there are particular violations of the principles of equality, proportionality, and the protection of legitimate expectations.
The Socialist Party (PS) has particularly targeted the decree that amends the Penal Code to create the accessory penalty of loss of nationality for those who, being immigrants, are sentenced to an effective prison term of four or more years. The new law also introduces additional conditions for the naturalization of foreigners. For example, it is only granted to applicants who “prove, through a test or certificate, sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture, history and national symbols” and who “possess the capacity to ensure their subsistence”.