Faro: Aguiar-Branco downplays controversy with Chega leader over foreign children's names

The journalists' question arose after, on Friday, during the discussion and vote on changes to the immigration and nationality law, André Ventura, leader of Chega, cited and read the names of immigrant children allegedly enrolled in a school in Lisbon.

Aguiar-Branco was absent from this session, he explained, because he had gone to watch the Portuguese national football team's debut game in the 2025 Women's European Championship, in Switzerland, and was replaced by Marcos Perestrello, vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic.

“The limit is always the Constitution. I would like to highlight that we had a meeting here [today] that demonstrated that it is possible to talk. It is possible to have direct contact with young people, teachers and institutions. Parliamentary activity is not just incidents, as you have seen and have been able to verify. An analysis was made here of various problems that are transversal to the region, with all political forces also giving their opinion. Therefore, this is an exercise in citizenship. It is an exercise that we hope will also be an example of the proximity of Parliament to voters. We are certainly contributing to this, to the better quality of democracy”, he began by saying.

The President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, presided this morning over the “Parlamento Próximo” initiative, created in the last legislature to visit the different electoral districts and meet with local entities, which took place at the Penha Campus of the University of Algarve ( UAlg ), in Faro.

And despite the journalists' insistence, he downplayed the issue. "As you can see, it had no importance whatsoever for the debate. No one here valued our discussion based on that. It was [a debate] based on the quality of the questions, the answers, the clarifications, the issues that were raised and it was normal, without any type of incident, as was, in fact, expected and as I also believed would happen, as it did."

He also said he was “absolutely in agreement” with the way the work was conducted, “under the responsibility of deputy Marcos Perestrello”.

"I would certainly do the same. I think he correctly raised the issue in the context of the parliamentary debate and so I have nothing more to add, except that I absolutely agree with the justifications, the reasons and the way he conducted the work, having correctly framed the situation," he added.

When asked about the example he set for citizens, the President of the Assembly of the Republic mentioned the individual responsibility of parliamentarians in their speeches.

“The question arises from the point of view of those who make interventions, they do so in full exercise of their freedom of expression, and they must assume responsibility for what they say,” he pointed out.

“The fact that reference was made in the Assembly to proper names that were not identifiable and that several jurists have already mentioned, did not violate any rule from a legal or constitutional point of view. This was the interpretation that Marcos Perestrello made and which I support”, he insisted.

“I was careful to look and I noticed that it was not identifiable, neither the specific name nor the specific schools, and therefore, one can like or dislike a speech. One can like or dislike. We have to be careful to know how to distinguish things: I can like or dislike, I can agree or disagree. I can even do a critical exercise and contradict whoever says it, making legitimate use [of freedom of expression], saying that I do not agree, that I think it is wrong, that I should not have done that, that it is not right. That is something, let's say, ethical to do. This falls within the ethics of the person who says it and who is responsible for what he says, and whoever wants to contradict has the freedom to contradict. Those who watch it make their own value judgement”, he explained.

He stressed that "what matters is the substantial discussion on the issue of nationality law, on what should be discussed from the point of view of concepts and from the point of view of the matters that should then be implemented by the government, and I hope that in the specifics of many of the matters that have been passed. I myself, when I accepted the bills, both from Chega and the government, mentioned that there would be some matters that could touch on the issues of unconstitutionality and that they should be carefully evaluated in the process of discussing the specifics."

“We will wait calmly for this matter to be debated and discussed. Whether or not many of the issues are constitutional, only at the end, when the law is approved, will we be able to see whether or not these situations that could be considered unconstitutional have been eliminated. We will wait calmly,” he concluded.

In Friday's controversial session, socialist Pedro Delgado Alves denounced "the monster that is awakened and the Pandora's box that is opened when children are used in Parliament for a debate that instigates hatred."

The Livre MP, Isabel Mendes Lopes, was moved and said that “Parliament must be humane, especially with children. It seems to me that it is the duty of the board not to allow children’s names to be mentioned in this parliament.”

The government's proposal foresees tightening the conditions for the entry of immigrants and for obtaining Portuguese nationality.

Today, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco is in the Algarve accompanied by deputies elected by this electoral district: João Paulo Graça, Sandra Ribeiro and Ricardo Moreira (Chega), Cristóvão Norte, Bárbara do Amaral Ferreira and Miguel Santos (PSD), Jorge Botelho and Luís Graça (PS).

During the morning, the delegation visited the Aboim Ascensão Refuge and, after the session at UAlg, had lunch at the headquarters of the Faro Motorcycle Club.

The program included a visit to Loulé, with a visit to the Islamic Baths and the Barreto Manor House, followed by a meeting with the presidents of the Municipal Councils of the Faro district, at the Gama Lobo Palace.