Mariana Mortagua says linking immigration to insecurity “is a lie that flies in the face of the facts.”

BE coordinator Mariana Mortagua dismissed on Tuesday the link between immigration and insecurity put forward by Passos Coelho as “utter nonsense,” arguing that the idea was “a lie refuted by all the facts.”

The BE agenda for the third day of the campaign was already planned before the entry of former PSD leader Passos Coelho into the AD campaign, but a visit to a school in São Teotónio, Odemir, Beja, in which more than 40% of the 400 students were born not in Portugal, but where they say in two dozen languages, Mariana Mortagua was able to criticize the former prime minister’s statements on immigration and instability.

“This is complete nonsense,” the BU leader began answering reporters.

According to Mariana Mortagua, “the idea that immigration is a security issue is a lie, it contradicts all the facts.”

“What we have to tell the country is that in order for the economy to work, for social security to work, for pensions to be paid, Portugal has an obligation to welcome the people who seek it, and it has an obligation to welcome the people who strive for the sake of those people who want a better life, but also for the sake of the people who already lived here and who also have the right to live in this peaceful, peaceful, tolerant society, capable of integrating everyone,” he defended.

Former Prime Minister and former PSD leader Pedro Passos Coelho took part in an AD rally in Faro on Monday, accusing the PS of increasing instability in the country, which he linked to immigration.

Passos recalled in his speech a statement he made at the 2016 Festa do Pontal in the Algarve, when he led the Social Democrats in opposition: “We need the country to be open to immigration, but be careful, we also need to have a safe country.”

“The government ignored this at the time and in fact today people feel insecure as a result of the lack of investment and priority given to these issues. This is not a coincidence,” said the former PSD president.

Citing several times the example of a school she visited as a model of integration, Mariana Mortagua insisted that Passos Coelho’s idea “has no justification and is not based on facts,” acknowledging that there are problems in the process.

“When immigrants come, and they come because there are jobs, because the economy needs immigrants, these immigrants obviously increase the population and put pressure on government services, on schools, on health centers, on departments of various government services,” – he described. .

The BE leader’s solution is to strengthen “the response of public services and ensure an adequate response”, recognizing that “there are two views on immigration”: “one good and one bad”.

“Good is to regulate, to provide conditions, to welcome, to create public services for those who are here and for those who come. It’s bad to close the doors of regular emigration and open the doors of the underground immigration mafia, immigration without rights.” , immigration in containers,” he said, recalling his speech the day before at a rally in Évora, also in the Alentejo.

Mariana Mortagua said she wants to “build a better, more welcoming and fairer country in which everyone can live.”

“This is not what the Portuguese were looking for when they left for a better life,” he wonders.

Asked whether Passos Coelho’s speech could mean a rapprochement with Chega, the BE leader said she had already heard “everything and the opposite from the PSD.”

“We know that no one wants to come to the negotiating table or no one says they want to come to the negotiating table with Andre Ventura, and that was very clear during the debate. We also know that the SDP is flirting with these ideas and raising concerns, especially on immigration. who are irresponsible, who are false, who have no contact with reality or facts,” he criticized.

For the bloc leader, “Portugal is something else.”

“Portugal is a country of hope, it is a country of solidarity, it is a country of justice that wants a better life for everyone who lives here. A good life for all who live,” he said.