Volt wants decisions on migration and asylum requests to be made within a maximum of three months

Volt’s European election leader said on Tuesday that asylum and immigration requests should take a maximum of three months to process and that applicants should be accompanied and welcomed during this period.

On the second day of campaigning for Portugal’s European Parliament elections on June 9, Duarte Costa went to listen to the stories of migrants and asylum candidates “housed” in tents in Plaza Igreja dos. Anjos in Lisbon.

“What I learned from these stories, which are very important and very moving, is that we need to speed up the processing of asylum and immigration applications,” he said, stressing that the party does not want the process to drag out in any case. Member States of the European Union, maximum period is three months.

Duarte Costa also argues that during this waiting period, “people receive social and psychological support” and that “solutions are being found to allow people to be in an orderly situation and not on the street.”

During the candidate’s interviews with migrants and asylum seekers living in Largo da Igreja dos Anjos, many said that they were undocumented and therefore could not get a job, or that they had found one but were passed over. -due to the lack of a fixed address, and everyone believed that they were “dying in an ambush.”

Stressing that migrants are vital to cultural richness and economic growth, Duarte Costa said he wants to deepen the so-called “talent pool” in the European Parliament.

“This is a proposal that has already been approved in this mandate and which we want to deepen and implement, in which two entities, the worker and the company in Europe, are looking for a ‘match’,” he said.

According to him, a “match” is sought on a European platform, where various companies experiencing difficulties in recruiting personnel provide information about vacancies – for example, in agriculture, industry, construction – and people from third countries express interest in employment.

This allows “a more flexible process for a person to come to the European Union for these vacancies and helps combat human trafficking,” Duarte Costa said.

“Improving migration policies” in Europe, candidate Volta added, also involves fighting the Pact on Migration and Asylum, approved by the European Council this month and which, as Duarte Costa recalls, earned the party a vote against.

“We have several problems with this pact, such as [o facto de] to create a fictitious idea of ​​“non-entry” into the country, he pointed out, noting that it cannot be assumed that people who have been waiting for months for a response from the government are on the way.

According to Duarte Costa, it is still necessary to fight “the false idea, fueled by the far right, that there are many people who want to join the European Union and that the borders are wide open.”

According to the candidate, “the vast majority of refugees – eight out of 10 – seek asylum in similarly poor countries and only 13% come to the EU”, with Portugal hosting “about 0.1%” of refugees.

“I have heard many alarming reports from these migrants – whether those who are in this vulnerable situation, or those who work, have their own families and a decent life – about the increase in attacks, discrimination and expressions of hatred and, [por isso]people are afraid,” he lamented, recalling that “the Portuguese, as a hospitable people, very humanistic and knowing what it means to endure discrimination because they were also migrants, must understand that the path is not oppression, it is a guarantee of dignity.”

In Portugal, the European elections will take place on June 9, and 17 parties and coalitions will take part in them: AD, PS, Chega, IL, BE, CDU, Livre, PAN, ADN, MAS, Ergue-te, Nova Direita, Volt Portugal. , RIR, We, citizens, MPT and PTP. 21 deputies will be elected.