Lisbon, June 25, 2025 (Lusa) - Parliament will discuss the 2024 Annual Internal Security Report on Wednesday, with the previous chapter on extremism omitted, in a debate that will feature the first plenary speech by Portugal’s new minister for internal affairs, Maria Lúcia Amaral.
A government source confirmed to Lusa that Minister Maria Lúcia Amaral will attend the debate, which will be the second item on the agenda of this afternoon’s plenary session.
The government will have five minutes to open the debate, followed by speeches from the parties in descending order of parliamentary representation, in a period scheduled to last 31 minutes.
Maria Lúcia Amaral took office on 5 June - two months after the RASI was submitted - as one of the new faces of the 25th Constitutional Government and will be responsible for providing clarification to parliament on the report presented by her predecessor Margarida Blasco, one of the most contested ministers in the previous government.
Parliament will examine the 2024 Annual Internal Security Report (RASI) almost three months after its presentation, still in the previous legislative term, a term that legislators highlighted by removing a chapter dedicated to extremist organisations in the final version.
The Left Bloc raised the issue and, on 2 April, asked the government why the version presented at the Superior Council for Internal Security meeting on Monday differed from the version sent to parliament.
The RASI document sent to parliament, which is available online on the government’s website, omits pages 35 to 39. The initial version included those pages, which referred to the chapter on “extremism and hybrid threats” and warned of the existence of an international extremist organisation in Portugal, classified in several countries as a terrorist organisation.
The Internal Security System (SSI) acknowledged that there was a “working version” of the Annual Internal Security Report (RASI) that included information on extremist organisations, different from the “official version” presented at the meeting. In response to the Left Bloc, the Prime Minister’s office acknowledged its concern about extremist movements.
On the left, the BE, supported by the PS, PCP and Livre, criticised the withdrawal of this paragraph and requested that the report be discussed in the previous legislative session, after the dissolution, at a meeting of the permanent committee of parliament; the PSD, CDS and Chega preferred to postpone the discussion at a leaders’ conference.
The three parties strongly criticised the rejection and accused the PSD, CDS-PP and Chega of claiming to prioritise “security” while preferring to keep the debate outside parliament.
Recently, this issue returned to the agenda following several attacks linked to far-right groups, with the PCP and BE asking the government to include these threats in the final version of the 2024 National Internal Security Report (RASI).
The sole PAN MP, Inês de Sousa Real, lamented in the previous legislature that the RASI data revealed an increase in the number of violations, calling for a compromise between the parties to combat this issue.
On the right, Chega promised in April to present a proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into the data in the Internal Security Report (RASI), considering that it is incorrect.
The IL considered that there is a “trend that requires attention” in areas such as violent and serious crime and juvenile delinquency, and will, in the context of this afternoon’s debate, submit a proposal to parliament for the RASI to include data on the nationality and country of origin of perpetrators of crimes, the party told Lusa.
TYRS/ADB // ADB.
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