BE coordinator Mariana Mortagua accused the government this Wednesday of promoting a “decade-long rollback” of immigration with measures already taken that have proven to be a “disaster” given that the executive has adopted the “flags” of Chegi.
“I would like to quote you a sentence. And the proposal is: “Anyone who wants to come to Portugal legally can come. Go to the consulates, ask for permission, and then Portugal, depending on the situation and her interests.” , decides whether to give permission or not.” It was not Minister Leitan Amaru who said this, but Díaz Loureiro in 1993,” Mariana Mortagua said during the biweekly debate with the prime minister in parliament.
The BE coordinator asked Luis Montenegro if he believed that Expo 98 and the football stadiums, the Vasco da Gama Bridge or the Porto metro were built by immigrants who arrived in Portugal “through the consulates”.
“This is not true. This policy was tried and it was a disaster. Consulates were buried in queues and mafia. And immigrants arrived in Portugal illegally,” the blocker warned, adding that some of these immigrants were Ukrainians – a country that is now supported by Portugal due to Russian invasion.
For Mariana Mortagua, “it would not matter much” if the prime minister said he “does not negotiate with racist and xenophobic politicians” if he later “accepts the flags of Chegi, especially regarding immigration.”
According to the leader of the bloc, the government “took advantage of the chaos that the PS left in AIMA services.” [Agência para a Integração Migrações e Asilo] change the law and close the only existing door to the legalization of immigrants who can enter Portugal.”
In response, the prime minister rejected his commitment to any Chegi flag on the issue and defended a plan unveiled by the government this month that, among other measures, would end the exceptional regime that allowed a foreigner to enter Portugal and only then seek permission. residence and created a mission structure to resolve unfinished cases, the number of which is estimated at 400 thousand people.
Montenegro said the government was prioritizing the regularization of these 400,000 immigrants and stressed that with regard to foreign nationals from Portuguese-speaking countries, the executive branch “has maintained rules that are more amenable to implementation than in other situations.”
“We understand that this policy, which even now raises some doubts and resistance on a European scale, must be maintained, and we take upon ourselves to maintain it,” he said.
The Prime Minister accused BE of pursuing a “wide open door” policy.
“We are interested in regulating immigration, and that is what we are doing, striking a balance that does not close the door on anyone, but provides basic and starting conditions that guarantee people that they will not remain in the situation of human suffering that, unfortunately, today meet in Portugal,” he said.
Montenegro said the government was committed to preventing immigrants from falling “into the hands of international human trafficking networks that take advantage of their ability to work and their desperate situation,” and stressed that “the law has tools to provide jobs and jobs.” look for those citizens who want to come to Portugal and help us build a more prosperous country in the future.”
Mariana Mortagua also stated that “the government recently announced that it intends to change the rules of unemployment benefits to deprive those who are not working of the income provided by the state, which encourages them to remain as they are instead of working” , explaining this phrase to the Minister of Labor.
Montenegro clarified that the minister’s words “do not constitute a devaluation of unemployment benefits,” since only those who worked receive unemployment benefits.”
“The meaning of the minister and the government’s words is this: we do not want those who work to have a lower income than those who do not work, in the sense that they receive social benefits – this is not unemployment benefits, but unemployment benefits. It could be, for example, social unemployment benefits – and that by accumulating social benefits, you can have a higher income than if you worked,” he emphasized.
The CEO said he does this “in two ways”: by monitoring “situations of abuse” and at the same time “ensuring that those entering the labor market do not have a lower income than they already had when I was I do not work”.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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