EJC calls on Portugal not to damage Jewish descendants citizenship law

Approximately 60,000 Jews from around the world have applied for Portuguese citizenship under the terms of the law, and several thousand have received it, including an estimated 5,000 from Israel.

By JEREMY SHARON
Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa speaks during a biweekly debate at the parliament, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Lisbon, Portugal, May 7, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/RAFAEL MARCHANTE)
Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa speaks during a biweekly debate at the parliament, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Lisbon, Portugal, May 7, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/RAFAEL MARCHANTE)
Dr. Moshe Kantor, the head of the European Jewish Congress, has called on the Portuguese parliament not to forestall the possibility of Jews of Portuguese descent gaining access to Portuguese citizenship through a 2015 law passed for that purpose.
The law allows Sephardi Jews whose ancestors lived in Portugal until the Inquisition and expulsion of Jews to obtain Portuguese citizenship if they have documents testifying to their Portuguese ancestry.
It was intended to redress the wrongs and suffering of that era and reconnect descendants of Portuguese Jews with part of their cultural and historic roots.
Approximately 60,000 Jews from around the world have applied for Portuguese citizenship under the terms of the law, and several thousand have received it, including an estimated 5,000 from Israel.
But the socialist PS party has advanced amendments to change the law and make it much more difficult to obtain citizenship under the legislation.
Initially in May, PS Member of Parliament Constanca Urbano de Sousa submitted a draft bill stipulating that applicants must reside in the country for two years before receiving citizenship, something which would preclude the majority of applicants.
This condition has now been dropped from the draft legislation, but it is expected that other conditions will be introduced to make the process more difficult.
“I urge you to amend the administrative flaws in the implementation of this historic law without losing sight of, or endangering, what is essential: the opening of a real, achievable path to citizenship of the Portuguese Republic to the descendants of persecuted Portuguese Sephardic Jews,” Kantor wrote in a letter to the president of the Assembly of the Republic, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues.
“This act of tolerance and reconciliation is as relevant, symbolic and inspiring to other nations as it was when it was approved five years ago.”
Eylon Kasif, whose company assists Jews seeking Portuguese citizenship under the terms of the law, said that in the public discourse in Portugal, sentiments that the citizenship applications were being made only for the purposes of securing various benefits from Portuguese citizenship, and not for the purposes of connection to the country.

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Since Portugal is a member of the European Union, Portuguese citizenship can be extremely helpful when setting up a business or seeking employment anywhere in the EU, buying property and getting cheaper university tuition fees, among other benefits.
Kasif said, in his opinion, of those who have applied for citizenship, a large proportion have been merely interested in the benefits, although added that many have also been interested in the cultural and historical aspects of the law and the rights it bestows.
He noted that many Spanish and Portuguese Jews feel very connected to that aspect of their communal identity that originated on the Iberian peninsular in the renowned and flourishing Jewish communities there, and that still today the particular prayer customs of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, and the Ladino language some still speak, are important components of that identity.
Kasif said he understood how people in Portugal could have been offended by the use of their citizenship for its various benefits alone, and said that requiring a connection to Portugal in the law was legitimate.
At the same time, introducing a broad and stringent condition like living in the country for two years would stop not only those seeking benefits, but those seeking to renew their cultural connection to the country as well, and was therefore detrimental to the entire concept.
He also noted that several hundred Jews who have obtained Portuguese citizenship have indeed moved to live in the country, with a large community in Porto, where they have made contributions to the city and country in terms of culture and the economy.
Kantor said comments had been made “regarding the ‘commercialization’ of the law,” and called on the Portuguese people “not to fall into the trap of antisemitic stereotypes and old prejudices.”
Kasif said, however, that he had not discerned any antisemitic overtones in the debate on the law, but merely opposition to its exploitation.
New proposals have been made to use as conditions for citizenship, such as basic Portuguese language skills, a history and culture test, although no decision has yet been made.


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