Parliament approves new Law on Nationality "that Portugal needs"

Parliament approved on 1 April the new Law on Nationality, a proposal by the Government that the Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro described as "balanced, demanding, and humane", to "resume the national consensus broken in 2018" and strengthen the applicants’ effective ties to the Portuguese community.

At the opening of the discussion, Leitão Amaro stressed that the law now approved "i sone of the most important ones for a country" as it defines "the people, who belongs to the community and who has the maximum range of rights and duties". The Minister insisted in a distinction between civic and ethnic identity: "What defines u sis not the colour of our skin, religion or ideology, rather the values, language, culture, our collective history and the joint responsibility we accept to share."

The member of Government also distinguished between patriotism and nationalism: "Patriotism is belonging, love for what is ours, respect for others. Nationalism is exclusion, hostility, and confrontation."

A year-long process and amendments to the previous bill

The new bill comes following a legislative process that lasted "exactly one year", the Minister of the Presidency recalled. António Leitão Amaro reminded that the Constitutional Court’s objections to the previous version approved in Parliament "did not touch upon the essential aspects of the Government’s original proposal", advocating that the Court’s decision validated "longer timeframes, more exigent requirements and the possibility of loss of nationality set in the Constitution".

The proposal now approved reinforces criteria of effective ties to the national community, extends residence periods and recovers what the Government believes is the traditional understanding on citizenship in Portugal, which was in force for "decades" and which required proven integration before granting nationality.

"Resuming consensus" and stopping "laxity"

António Leitão Amaro criticised the amendments made in 2018, which he classified as "laxity". "The consensus of decades was broken in 2018. Now is the time to fix it", asking the Members of Parliament to choose between "letting thigs be" or "resuming the effective tie requirement" in granting nationality.

The Minister presented the bill as a balanced solution that combines "blood and soil nationality", maintaining the system’s openness, yet with more stringent requirements, aligning Portugal with other European democracies.

"A law that Portugal needs"

Ranking the new Law on Nationality as "patriotic yet never nationalistic", Leitão Amaro advocated that the bill "upholds all the constitutional requirements" and "is asked for by the Portuguese people" and can garner "broad consensus" in Parliament.

"Today, is the day to offer the country the Law on Nationality that Portugal needs", he concluded. "This is reforming. For Portugal".