Confirmation of this decree creating the ancillary penalty of loss of nationality - which was unanimously deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Federal Court and later vetoed by the President of the Republic - requires "a two-thirds majority of the deputies present at the session, provided that it is greater than the absolute majority of deputies in office".

And right at the beginning of the debate, PSD distanced itself from Chega's desire to confirm the decree vetoed by the President of the Republic.

The vice-president of the Social Democratic parliamentary group, António Rodrigues, informed the Chega group that it is important to "fulfil the constitutional mandate" in this matter, reducing the range of crimes liable to loss of nationality foreseen in previous versions of the legislation.

Within the same scope, CDS MP João Almeida warned Chega that the best course of action, from a political standpoint, would be to accept a narrower range of crimes, in accordance with the Constitutional Court, allowing for the eventual expansion of the scope of crimes later on.

In another message directed at the Rio Grande do Sul parliamentary group, João Almeida warned: "Out of stubbornness, we cannot be without the possibility of losing nationality for crimes committed against the community."

"If that happened, it would be a victory for the left – and the CDS does not want to give a victory to the left," he declared.

Bactracking in terms of crimes

But, during this debate, the president of Chega, André Ventura, accused the PSD and the CDS of having backtracked in terms of crimes that could lead to loss of nationality. He stated that these two parties had retreated on points that were the subject of negotiation with his party and considered it "a shame" that they left out crimes of slavery, pedophilia, or human trafficking.

André Ventura distanced himself from the more minimalist version of crimes presented by PSD and CDS regarding the loss of nationality, which focuses mainly on terrorism and crimes against the State. "Whoever tries to please the left ends up with the left," he said, thus signalling Chega's vote against the changes proposed by the parties that support the Government.

No majority for approval

If this position of the president of Chega is maintained at the time of the vote, the changes proposed by PSD and CDS will have no possibility of obtaining an absolute majority of approval, that is, 116 favourable votes out of 230. This, knowing that all the parliamentary left benches will reject them.

Another relevant intervention from a political point of view came from the deputy of the Iniciativa Liberal Jorge Miguel Teixeira, who distanced himself both from the request for confirmation of the decree requested by Chega, and from the changes proposed by PSD and CDS to the decree rejected in the Constitutional Court.

Jorge Miguel Teixeira considered that the most relevant changes were made to the laws on foreigners and nationality. He then mentioned that the Liberal Initiative had always had doubts about creating an accessory penalty for the loss of nationality. And he concluded: "For the Liberal Initiative, this debate ends here."