Welcome to the Week em Breve, a wrap-up of important Portuguese news to keep you up to date and in the know.
New nationality law set to be one of the strictest in the EU
Portugal will have one of the most demanding nationalisation processes in the European Union when the new nationality law comes into force, Público reports.
The new law increases the residency requirement to acquire citizenship from five to seven years for members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and the European Union, and to 10 years for everyone else.
This puts Portugal in line with Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Lithuania, and Spain, which also require a decade of residency, according to Público.
Applicants will also be required to show knowledge of the culture, political organization, and values of Portugal, as well as demonstrate loyalty to the principles of the Republic.
Other countries around the EU have similar requirements, but the review of criteria by Público shows that, combined, the rules under the new nationality law would put Portugal among the strictest in the bloc.
The nationality law is currently being considered by constitutional judges after it was referred for review by the Socialist Party.
Police launch operation against immigrant slavery scheme that allegedly involved GNR and PSP
The Judicial Police (Polícia Judiciária – PJ) launched an operation against “immigrant slavery” in agriculture last Tuesday, which resulted in the arrest of 10 National Republican Guards (Guarda Nacional Republicana – GNR), one member of the Public Security Police (Polícia de Segurança Pública – PSP), and several civilians.
The operation, named “Fair Harvest,” included around 50 search warrants and 17 arrest warrants in Beja, Portalegre, Figueira da Foz, and Porto.
Prosecutors cited crimes including human trafficking, aiding illegal immigration, forgery, tax fraud, money laundering, corruption, and abuse of power.
According to the PJ, operation Fair Harvest tackled a criminal organization that controlled and exploited irregular immigrants.
People from South Asia, East Timor, and Africa were lured to Portugal with false promises before being forced to work and kept under duress, including via threats and physical assaults, and charged exploitative amounts for accommodation and food, according to Diário de Notícias.
Conditions were so poor that some of the victims resorted to begging in the streets for food, according to the publication.
The operation was the result of several months of investigation into this “violent, mafia-style group,” according to a statement by the Judicial Police.
Human trafficking and modern slavery in Portuguese agriculture is a recurrent problem, with the Observatory on Trafficking in Human Beings finding that 73.2% of those trafficked for labour exploitation in Portugal between 2008 and 2021 were made to work in farming.
Controversial celebration of failed November 25 coup
Last Tuesday, Portugal’s Armed Forces commemorated the 50th anniversary of the failed coup of November 25, 1975, in which far-left activists attempted to overthrow the post-Carnation Revolution government.
Celebrations in Praça do Comércio were stunted, in an event that Público described as seeming to be “primarily organized by soldiers for soldiers.”
The remembrance was divided along political lines, with left- and right-wing politicians battling to shape the narrative of a tumultuous period of Portuguese history.
This was primarily done by wearing or displaying carnations — a symbol of the 1974 revolution — or, in the case of André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party, removing them from the podium.
Catarina Martins and André Ventura take leading roles in political theatre
In another display of political theatre, left-wing MEP Catarina Martins and Ventura sparred in a televised debate last Friday.
While ostensibly part of the build-up to the presidential elections in January, in which they are both running, the two speakers are so divided that it seemed little more than a mud-slinging match.
Martins herself said “this debate had nothing to do with the presidential elections,” according to Diário de Notícias. Instead, it focused for the most part on immigration, interspersed with personal insults.
During the heated exchange, Martins called Ventura a “pantomime artist,” while he accused her of being a bad actress (Martins is active in theatre).
Recent poll shows Ventura and independent admiral neck-and-neck in presidency elections, but far-right leader expected to lose
A poll by ICS/ISCTE for Expresso showed that Ventura and independent candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo were tied at 18% support, Reuters reports.
Luis Marques Mendes, ex-Social Democrat leader, was only a little way behind at 16%, while the former Socialist leader Antonio José Seguro came in at 10%.
That said, the poll also suggests that Ventura would lose to former navy admiral Gouveia e Melo or Marques Mendes if the presidential elections went to a second round, which is highly likely.
Bottle and can return scheme to start next year
Portugal will introduce a refundable 10-cent deposit on bottles and cans from April next year to improve recycling rates and tackle carbon emission, according to Diário de Noticias.
The fee will be added to products sold in Portugal, with refunds issued at 8,000 manual collection points and 2,500 automatic machines.
This scheme is the result of an environmental policy mandate from Brussels and will be part of the wider framework of the Deposit and Return System (SDR Portugal).
Refunds will be in cash, store credit, digital transfer, or donation, and large supermarkets will be required to accept all compliant packaging with the SDR symbol, the publication writes.
Smaller establishments will be able to join voluntarily.
