Lisbon: Portugal’s minority government on Tuesday secured an accord with a far-right party to propose a new law toughening the rules for foreigners to obtain Portuguese nationality, officials said. A first vote on the law was scheduled in parliament later Tuesday following the agreement with the far-right Chega party.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the proposed law will notably extend the time required to acquire Portuguese nationality. Hugo Soares, head of the governing coalition in parliament, noted that this move aligns Portugal with a group of European countries making it more challenging to obtain nationality.
Chega leader Andre Ventura commented that both sides had made “concessions” during months of negotiations. This agreement marks a significant step for Chega, which became the main opposition party in parliament following elections in May last year. During those elections, centre-right leader Luis Montenegro returned as prime minister but without securing a governing majority.
Chega has strongly campaigned against immigration, leveraging statistics that highlighted a significant increase in the foreign population. By the end of 2024, there were reportedly over 1.5 million foreigners in Portugal, nearly four times more than in 2017, comprising about 15 percent of the national population.