The Nationality Law was approved this Friday in the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, after a morning of intense debate between the parties.
The bill, which introduces new minimum residency periods for obtaining Portuguese nationality, will now be voted on in plenary on October 28.
According to the approved text, the minimum period of legal residence in Portugal will be seven years for citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) and ten years for citizens of other origins.
The Government's proposal to revise the nationality law, incorporating changes introduced by the PSD and CDS, was approved this Friday (October 24), but has not yet received support from Chega in the final global vote.
In the final global vote on Tuesday, the Government's proposal as a whole, to pass, will need to obtain an absolute majority of 116 votes in favor among the 230 deputies in active service.
Given the opposition expressed by the PS, Livre, PCP and Bloco de Esquerda in the process of assessment in detail, at the Constitutional Affairs Committee, in the final global vote Chega will have to join the PSD, CDS and Iniciativa Liberal for the Government's proposal to be approved.
A Social Democrat source told Lusa news agency that no guarantee has yet been received from Chega that the bill will continue to be approved in a final global vote.
" Their [Chega's] choice is whether or not they want a better nationality law than the current one. That's the choice Chega will have to make ," said the same PSD official.
Speaking to Lusa news agency, Chega MP Cristina Rodrigues stated that “the party will still decide” regarding the changes now introduced to the text of the Government's proposal.
This Friday, the PSD and CDS rejected all of Chega's proposed amendments – some of which were red lines raised by the party's president, André Ventura – and only came closer by placing the condition of guaranteed means of subsistence for access to Portuguese nationality.
Chega, in turn, among other demarcation lines, even voted against the PSD/CDS proposal to grant nationality to stateless people who have resided in Portugal for at least four years . In most cases, however, Chega approved or abstained on the PSD/CDS proposals.