Chega Proposes Suspension of Asylum Applications from Middle East Countries

The far-right Chega party has announced it will propose a suspension of asylum applications from four Middle East countries — Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq — citing what it describes as a risk of a repeat migration crisis comparable to 2014 and 2015.

The announcement came from party leader André Ventura at a press conference on Tuesday. Ventura said Chega would present the proposal in the Assembly of the Republic simultaneously with the European group Patriots for Europe advancing a similar measure at the European Parliament, framing it as a coordinated effort across the European far-right.

The initial proposal would see the measure run for six months, though Ventura acknowledged it could be extended "for as long as necessary while the area is destabilised." He pointed to ongoing military instability in the region following recent conflict escalation as the primary justification, arguing that "Europe will not withstand another wave of refugees of this type without systemic political movements."

The Chega leader did specify exceptions to the proposed ban, describing them as unavoidable humanitarian cases: women fleeing persecution by authoritarian regimes and political opponents facing direct persecution would still be considered. Critics, however, were quick to note that this standard would be extremely difficult to apply uniformly in practice.

The proposal is unlikely to pass in its current form. Portugal's centre-right minority government, led by the AD coalition under Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, has maintained a distinct position from Chega on immigration policy, favouring tighter administrative controls rather than categorical origin-based bans. The Socialist Party and other opposition groups are expected to reject the proposal outright. Portugal's constitution and EU legal obligations also present substantial obstacles to the kind of blanket national-origin restriction Ventura is describing.

Chega's announcement formed part of a broader package of economic proposals also unveiled at Tuesday's press conference. The party simultaneously called for a VAT exemption on essential food products and a temporary fuel tax reduction mechanism, the latter modelled on a measure originally adopted following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Ventura argued the fuel discount should be automatically triggered when international oil prices breach a defined threshold.

The proposals underscore the political calculations ahead of what is expected to be a challenging legislative stretch for the Montenegro government. Chega has oscillated between tacit parliamentary support and outright opposition depending on the issue, and the immigration proposal appears calibrated to sharpen the party's positioning on security and identity politics ahead of the local elections later this year. For the large community of foreign nationals legally resident in Portugal — now exceeding 1.2 million people — the proposals serve as a reminder that immigration remains one of the country's most contested political fault lines, even as official policy continues to distinguish clearly between legal residency routes and asylum processes.