Porto students ask politicians to sign a Regime Pact

This Monday, International Youth Day, the Academic Federation of Porto (FAP) calls on political parties with seats in Parliament to create a Youth Regime Pact and a Commission for Monitoring and Evaluating Youth Measures.

“In the context of International Youth Day, celebrated on August 12, FAP calls for a consensus among the political parties with seats in Parliament to implement the Youth Regime Pact in order to ensure respect for the rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, which recognizes the right to education, work, housing and health care,” reads a statement sent to Lusa on Monday.

The Youth Regime Pact aims to uphold the constitution by achieving “equal opportunities in access to education, decent work and retention of talent, access to housing, health care and well-being for young Portuguese people.”

FAP also advocates the creation of a Committee for Monitoring and Evaluation of the measures and programmes adopted for young people, to ensure “correct implementation” and periodic evaluation of their results.

According to the president of the FAP, Portugal “unfortunately” does not have a political culture of consensus, but Francisco Fernandes states that “it is absolutely necessary to have a fundamental understanding between the main political parties, namely the PS and the PSD, leading to structural reforms and stable public youth policies in order to preserve talent in Portugal.”

The Academic Federation recalls that young Portuguese people face “precarious employment relationships” and “salaries below the European average.” Data from the National Institute of Statistics shows that 75% of young people earn less than a thousand euros a month, “36% less than the European average,” and that 57% of employment contracts are temporary.

In addition to low salaries, students also face high living costs, which leads them to drop out of higher education. A student room can cost €600 in Porto and €700 in Lisbon.

Young Portuguese are also emigrating. In January, the Emigration Observatory reported that 30% of young people born in Portugal now live outside the country, making Portugal the country with the highest emigration rate in Europe and one of the highest in the world.

In view of all the difficulties listed, the FAP reiterates its request to the parties with seats in the Assembly of the Republic to create a Regime Pact for the youth, as well as to create a Commission for monitoring and evaluating the measures and programmes adopted for the youth.