Ventura guarantees he has an agreement to limit social support

Follow our liveblog on politics

The president of Chega welcomed the enactment of the foreigners' law this Thursday and insisted that the party has an agreement with the government to legislate to limit immigrants' access to social support.

In a statement to journalists in the Assembly of the Republic, André Ventura said he viewed the enactment of the law on foreigners with "favorable eyes," arguing that the "President of the Republic should not be a brake on reforms that the country needs," such as immigration control.

The president of Chega also insisted that the "commitment to the Government" that allowed the implementation of the foreigners' law presupposed that legislation would now be passed to prevent "immigrants from coming to Portugal to benefit from social benefits" and to limit the "minimum number of years of contributions [for an immigrant] to receive social benefits" — an agreement that has already been denied by the Government.

"This is actually what happens to our emigrants in many places around the world, in many countries where they are. And therefore, it is a basic sense of justice that those who arrive in Portugal must pay taxes before receiving them," he added.

Ventura also said that this agreement with the government parties also presupposes legislation to prevent so-called "health tourism," requiring those arriving in Portugal to have insurance that covers health expenses or creating a "compensation mechanism for countries [of origin] in relation to Portugal."

For the Chega leader, Portugal cannot “ continue to have thousands of foreigners coming to Portugal for treatment, benefiting from the investment of the National Health Service ” without “being able to collect these funds from either themselves or other countries.”

"We've taken note of this step, but there's still much to be done on this matter. And we took it, I repeat, assuming that the current government, or the majority supporting the government, would address Chega's concerns, especially on these two issues," he emphasized.

[Despite the euphoria surrounding Freitas, Soares recovers. The debate with Zenha will be decisive. When it's over, they'll never be friends again . The "Craziest Election Ever" is Observador's new Podcast Plus about the 1986 Presidential Election. A series narrated by actor Gonçalo Waddington, with an original soundtrack by Samuel Úria. You can listen here , on Observador, and also on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube Music . And you can listen to the first episode here and the second here .]

André Ventura also said that this law "does not conflict with or affect nationality law," but rather provides a signal "of what needs to be worked on now," such as the expulsion from the country of those who commit serious crimes.

After the new version of the foreigners' law was approved in parliament, Chega said the government had committed to limiting immigrants' access to social support, an agreement denied by the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro.

"The government has not made any commitment, now or in the future, to prohibit immigrants from accessing social benefits," the head of the Presidency responded.

In a statement released this Thursday, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, justified the enactment of the law on foreigners by stating that the parliamentary decree was “reviewed and approved by 70% of the deputies” and considering that it “corresponds minimally to the essence of the doubts of unconstitutionality raised by him and confirmed by the Constitutional Court”.

The new version of the legal regime for the entry, stay, departure and removal of foreigners from the national territory was approved in plenary on September 30 with votes in favor from PSD, CDS-PP, Chega, IL and JPP, and votes against from PS, Livre, PCP, BE and PAN, after the Constitutional Court rejected five norms of the previous decree in August.

The PS, Livre, PCP, BE, and PAN parties, as well as the sole JPP representative, had voted against the first version, approved on July 16th with votes in favor from the PSD, Chega, and CDS-PP, with the IL abstaining. The decree was drafted based on a bill from the PSD/CDS-PP government and a bill from Chega.