The Portuguese constituitional court does not rule on the unconstitutionality of the decree-law that amends the nationalizty law in matter of portuguese nationality for descendants of sephardit jews
On January of 2024, the Portuguese President requested the Portuguese Constitutional Court for a preventive review of the constitutionality of article 6º of the Decree No. 134/XV. This decree aims to amend the Portuguese Nationality Law, especially in terms of granting Portuguese nationality to descendants of Sephardic Jews.
With the preventive review of constitutionality, the Portuguese Constitutional Court is called upon to rule on the constitutionality of norms that are not yet effective (do not yet produce legal effects). This is necessarily an abstract control, as it is part of the legislative production process itself, and therefore, it takes place before the legal norm enters into force.
In this case, the Portuguese President submitted the Decree-Law that amends the Nationality Law to preventive review by the Constitutional Court, claiming that the changes with effects applicable to processes still in progress could worsen the situation of Israeli hostages in Gaza who are waiting for the Portuguese nationality. In particular, article 6º of Decree Nº 134/XV stands out, which creates a new special regime applicable to pending requests for granting nationality to descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews and introduces additional criteria for such granting (which could make it more difficult). The President highlighted that the change in question could impact the situation of Israeli hostages and those of other nationalities, from Hamas, in Gaza, several of whom have pending requests for the granting of Portuguese nationality, as descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews. The detention of a nationality other than Israeli has led to the release of hostages, as has already happened with a Portuguese Israeli.
On February 20th, the Constitutional Court decided by majority not to rule on the unconstitutionality of the legal norm contained in article 6º of Decree Nº 134/XV. The Court understood in its ruling Nº 128/2024 that the proposal does not violate the legitimate expectations of nationality applicants, nor does it directly jeopardize the lives of its recipients or the dignity of the human person.
The Portuguese President now has a period of 20 days to promulgate or politically veto the Decree nº 134/XV, returning it to the Assembly, through a reasoned message, in which he expresses his political position regarding the content or opportunity for this degree.
