Government wants to abolish fees for studying Portuguese abroad and invests in electronic voting

The abolition of tuition fees for courses teaching Portuguese abroad, an emphasis on face-to-face electronic voting and an increase in the number of MPs are just some of the community measures in the government program presented this Wednesday in Parliament.

In the area of ​​communities, the program of the XXIV Constitutional Government will promote a plan of action that, among other measures, defines the cessation of tuition fees for courses of the network “Education Portuguese Abroad” (EPE), which has long been demanded by representatives of Portuguese emigrants and descendants of Portuguese people.

The program presented by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte, to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, defines the adaptation of the EPE network “to the new sociological reality” of the Portuguese communities: with an emphasis on the growth of the network of schools abroad, especially in new places of Portuguese emigration.

The government, led by Luís Montenegro, wants to “promote greater confidence in the Council of Portuguese Communities” (CCP) and “increase the level of political participation of Portuguese residents abroad, with particular emphasis on the introduction of electronic voting without personal presence.” .

The executive branch allows for “an increase in the number of deputies in the Assembly of the Republic” and will promote “the creation of global networks of national politicians and politicians of Portuguese origin.”

At the consular level, the government announced that it would “examine the reorganization of the current consular action planning model, assessing the careers of relevant diplomatic and consular network staff, while at the same time seeking to take advantage of the potential of the virtual consulate, digital mobile key and consular stays.”

Another measure included in the government’s program is to promote the extension of the validity of the Portuguese e-passport from five to ten years.

The commitment to developing a network of emigrant support offices and promoting the creation of diaspora councils in the municipalities and regional governments of the Azores and Madeira are also measures of this executive.

The government also intends to improve the conditions of the Diaspora Investor Support Office, the National Diaspora Investor Support Plan and the Regressar program.

Another measure involves promoting “solidarity associations through the creation of a partnership program with social support associations to provide assistance to the most needy sections of (…) communities, as well as creating a support network for new emigrants.”

The XXIV Constitutional Government, led by Luis Montenegro, has the support of 80 deputies – 78 from the PSD and 2 from the SDS-PP – out of 230, in a parliament in which the PS has 78 seats, Chega – 50, Liberal Initiative 8, BE 5, PCP 4, Livre also 4 and PAN 1.

According to the provisions of the Constitution, the government program must contain “the main policies and measures to be adopted or proposed in the various areas of government activity” and “members of the government are associated with the program”, as well as “to the discussion held in the Council of Ministers”.

The document is not put to a vote in the Assembly of the Republic, but only evaluated, but parliamentary groups can make proposals to reject the program, the approval of which requires an “absolute majority of current deputies.”

Only after the Assembly of the Republic has assessed its program will the government begin to exercise its functions in full, and until then it must confine itself to “the practice of acts strictly necessary to ensure the management of public affairs.”