Marcelo sends anti-immigration bill to Constitutional Court
Portugal’s beloved President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is either standing up for immigrants or washing his hands of the most divisive aspect of the country’s recent politics, according to news reports.
The President has referred the package of anti-immigration reforms — approved on July 16 in the national assembly thanks to votes by the ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People’s Party (CDS), with help from the far-right Chega — to the Constitutional Court, according to news reports.
In particular, Marcelo is questioning the constitutionality of changes that would make it harder for immigrant families to reunite, the blatant discrimination in the package — new restrictions on family reunifications, for example, do not apply to golden visa holders who gain residency by investing hundreds of thousands of euros in the country, or those considered as highly qualified immigrants — and the breakneck speed with which the Assembleia da Republica passed the measure (it took 16 working days in total), according to Público.
The President then gave the court 15 days to make a decision.
Portuguese Prime Minister signals acceptance of Chega
While the Constitutional Court decides on the fate of immigration reform, Portugal’s drift to the right continues.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, leader of the coalition PSD-CDS said in April that it was “impossible to govern with Chega,” in part because Ventura lacked “maturity and decency.”
Last week, Montenegro indicated that he’s warming to the party, telling RTP’s Antena 1 that Chega “is now starting to show greater responsibility.”
Portugal’s leader added that it remains to be seen whether the recent change “is a flash in the pan [sol de pouca dura], if it’s just a bonfire or if it’s a consistent trajectory,” according to Público.
The Prime Minister also offered this assessment of how the anti-immigration reform package was voted into life by his coalition and Chega:
“The Government did not give in to anything” and refused to let Chega influence its policies on immigration, he told RTP.
Montenegro seems to believe it’s PSD’s former coalition party, the Socialist Party, that’s now getting out of hand instead.
“Does anyone see this dramatization, this radicalization within the Socialist Party?” Montenegro said, referring to Socialist leader José Luís Carneiro, who threatened to break with Montenegro’s coalition if the government doesn’t remove Chega, according to RTP.
Immigration agency site evacuated after bomb threat
Two days after that interview, the Anjos center of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo, AIMA) was evacuated following what turned out to be a false bomb threat, according to Correio da Manhã.
An alert was issued by someone at AIMA’s headquarters, and the evacuation lasted just 10 minutes before police determined there was no danger and let everyone back in, the publication wrote.
How many immigrants live in Portugal?
Is it 11 million or 12 million, Marcelo asked at an Expresso conference last week, pointing to the different figures supplied by the National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estatística, INE) and Montenegro’s government, according to ECO.
No one is quite sure, in turns out.
INE says AIMA has yet to submit the number of residence permits held as of Dec. 31 last year, according to Expresso.
INE added that it expected those numbers in February, according to Público.
In fact, the latest update INE has from AIMA is from June 2024 — and it’s for numbers for 2023, according to ECO.
Summer holidays deplete Portugal’s blood supplies
Portugal is going through yet another blood shortage and asking residents to donate, according to Público.
Blood reserves have fallen sharply in large part due to the summer holidays, as they frequently tend to do, but this time it’s already caused at least one hospital, Santa Maria in Lisbon, to postpone some surgeries, Público reports.
The Portuguese Federation of Benevolent Blood Donors (Federação Portuguesa de Dadores Benévolos de Sangue, FEPODABES) is calling for anyone over 18, weighing at least 50 kg, and in decent health to spare some blood this summer.
To find out how to donate, the association says you should head to www.fepodabes.pt. Be warned that registration is far from straightforward, and if you want to brave just showing up, you may have an easier time. You can see collection points and the times they’re taking blood donations at https://dador.pt. (Greater Lisbon has a half-dozen sites, including at Santa Maria hospital).
