Nationality Law: Socialist Party Submits to Constitutional Court for Preventive Review; Marcelo Must Wait
Brilhante Dias confirmed to Observador that the bill has been submitted for constitutional review. Marcelo explained that he must wait for the Constitutional Court’s opinion before he can ‘consider the bill from a political perspective.’
According to Expresso, the Socialist Party parliamentary group will petition the Constitutional Court for a preventive review of the new rules on acquisition and loss of Portuguese nationality. Socialist parliamentary leader Eurico Brilhante Dias confirmed the move to Observador. In response, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated on Thursday that he would wait for the Constitutional Court’s ruling before potentially ‘considering the law from a political standpoint.’ According to the weekly report, since the Constitutional Court’s establishment in 1983, this constitutional privilege—allowing political parties to request preventive review—has been invoked only twice out of 146 such applications.
Now, the President’s duty regarding this law is to wait for the Constitutional Court to schedule the hearing upon the request of 50 MPs (if I recall correctly), distribute the relevant documents, issue a ruling, and then send the decision to the President of the Republic,” he said. “If the Constitutional Court finds the law unconstitutional, the President must veto it. If the Court finds it constitutional, the President then has a period of time to consider the law politically,” the Head of State added.
When asked whether he also intends to request a preventive review of this parliamentary decree or another law that imposes loss of nationality as an additional penalty, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied: ‘I just returned from Angola, so I haven’t had time to read these two decrees carefully. All I know is what I’ve learned from the media.’ He concluded: ‘At this moment, I have nothing to say, as I planned to carefully review these decrees over the next few days; I have eight days.’
On October 28, the PSD/CDS-PP government’s bill amended the Nationality Law, introducing loss of nationality as an additional penalty. Both decrees were approved: 157 votes in favor from PSD, Chega, IL, CDS-PP, and JPP; 64 votes against from PS, Livre, PCP, BE, and PAN. On Tuesday, both decrees were delivered to Belém Palace.
The Constitution requires that legislative proposals concerning ‘the acquisition, loss, and reacquisition of Portuguese nationality’ be enacted as organic laws. Under the Constitution, within eight days after the enactment of an organic law, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, and one-fifth of the Members of Parliament (46 out of 230) may request a preventive review of any of its provisions. Among the parties that voted against the nationality law—including the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), Livre, BE, and PAN—only the Socialist Party (PS) has the right to make such a request, as it is the only party with at least one-fifth of the parliamentary seats.
Under the Constitution, the President of the Republic ‘may not promulgate’ an organic law ‘until eight days have passed since its receipt, or until the Constitutional Court has rendered a decision, if a request for review has been submitted.’