The President of the Republic was reacting to the news that the Socialist Party will request a preventive review of the Nationality Law by the Constitutional Court.
The President of the Republic stated this Thursday that, in response to a request for preventive review of the Nationality Law made by the Socialist Party, he will wait for the Constitutional Court to issue its ruling before, possibly, "politically reconsidering the law."
In response to questions from journalists, as he left an event organized by the Portuguese Olympic Committee at a restaurant in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that he had just learned that the PS parliamentary group would be requesting a preventive review of the parliamentary decree that amends the Nationality Law.
"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, which unless I'm mistaken is 50, 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," added the head of state.
Asked if he also intends to request the Constitutional Court to carry out a preventive review of this parliamentary decree, or of the other one that provides for the loss of nationality as an accessory penalty, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied: "I just arrived from Angola and, therefore, I had not yet reviewed either of the decrees. And what I know is what I have just learned from the media."
"At this moment, I'm not saying anything more, because 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," concluded Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The decree amending the Nationality Law and another that provides for the loss of nationality as an accessory penalty, both originating from a bill proposed by the PSD/CDS-PP government, were approved on October 28, with 157 votes in favor from PSD, Chega, IL, CDS-PP and JPP, and 64 votes against from PS, Livre, PCP, BE and PAN, and were sent to the Belém Palace on Tuesday.
The Constitution establishes that legislative initiatives regarding "the acquisition, loss, and reacquisition of Portuguese citizenship" take the form of an organic law.
In the case of organic laws, within eight days of receiving the decrees, in addition to the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and one-fifth of the deputies -- 46 out of 230 -- may also request the preventive review of any of their provisions, in accordance with the Constitution.
In these cases, the Constitution stipulates that "the President of the Republic may not promulgate decrees" that correspond to organic laws "without eight days having elapsed since their receipt or before the Constitutional Court has ruled on them, when the intervention of the latter has been requested."
The decree revising the Nationality Law, among other changes, increases the timeframes for foreigners legally residing in Portugal to acquire Portuguese nationality and restricts its granting to those born in Portugal.
The parliamentary decree amending the Penal Code to create the ancillary penalty of loss of nationality may apply to anyone who is a national of another State and is sentenced to an effective prison term of four years or more within ten years of acquiring Portuguese nationality.
These two decrees were approved with the same vote, by more than two-thirds of the deputies, a majority that allows for their eventual confirmation even if they are declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.