Reversing government policy violates the principle of protecting citizens’ trust.
with Battle lines already drawn Concerning the government’s perceived attack on the right to property, constitutional scholars have entered into the fused housing debate, suggesting that The decision to cancel golden visas – and giving existing visa holders an entirely different set of options for any renewals – violates the law.
These specialists in fine printing Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (CRP) She points out that the measure is manifestly unconstitutional, in that it is It violates the principle of trust and legitimate expectations of citizens.
said Jorge Miranda, who is often referred to as the father of the 1976 Constitutional Document Negotiation record that The state has a “duty of good faith” and that “in any case, Reasonable periods of “vacant legislation” must be guaranteed. – this is it The acceptable time between the publication of the law and its entry into force..
As things happened on the 16th of February, The government announced the end of golden visas at close range. All applications that were in the process of being setup but were not actively processed are closed.
For Jorge Miranda, the decision – indeed the entire proposal – “affects the guarantee and confidence of those directly involved” and that he “does not envisage even a period of ‘legislative vacuum'” leaving the procedure “suffering from material unconstitutionality”.
In other words, Unless the government reconsider and accepts “a transitional regime that ensures that new measures are implemented incrementally and deferred over time,” legally on very thin ice – without forgetting deterrent message measurement sent to international investors.
with A petition on that last point has already garnered signatures online the resident He has been approached by many golden visa holders terrified of the changes affecting them.
“The country’s GV program has generated tens of millions of euros from free advertising in the press and on social networks over the past 13 years,” explains one American who has been living in Lisbon for some time. Just search Bloomberg for “Portugal Golden Visa,” for a small example, And you will see that this program has really captured the world’s imagination and put the name of this small country on the map.This has helped a lot in growing the buzz in many circles that Portugal is a good place for business, startups, an emerging tech scene, and retirement (i.e. wealthy foreigners settle here, with all kinds of visas, paying VAT and other taxes that keep this shrinking and gray country afloat), etc. the The reputation benefits were enormous. but All that hype and goodwill can disappear overnight If they are not careful. Look at what happened last month at Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Credit Suisse. Word travels rapidly around the world in 2023, and the message that Costa’s proposal would send far and wide is: Do not trust Portugal. Whatever promises they make to you as an immigrant, investor, business owner, startup founder, etc. can be scuttled without a second thought to gain political points in the short term.”
A group of Jordanian investors also reached out saying that the end of the golden visa program would “reflect on us very badly,” but they were unable to sign the online petition because it would not accept their residency visa number. .
As another investor said: For every petition signer, there are perhaps 10 people like me who have seen how fickle the government and the SEF can be, and who fear that exercising our right to free speech will send us into a deeper circle of bureaucratic hell.
Only this measure has become a hornet’s nest Elsewhere, ordinary citizens are completely frustrated by the lack of concrete measures to help them.
Meanwhile, lawyer Filipe Eusébio, partner at Ana Bruno & Associados, warned that Compensation claims (As the petition indicates) can reach “unsustainable values”.
It all comes down to what The law aimed at attracting investment “can be repealed retroactively, irreversibly affecting the acquired rights, without any regard for the legitimate interests of those who have invested in the national territory he told the Jornal de Negócios.
