Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said this Saturday that “from Portugal we can expect respect for the dignity of people” and greater flexibility in issuing visas to enter the country and handling the flow of migrants.
The head of the Portuguese government spoke at a joint press conference with Cape Verdean Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva in the capital of the archipelago, Praia.
He explained that with the new government there would be no changes to the rules, considering it natural that countries closer to each other, such as Cape Verde or others that speak Portuguese, would have “more flexible rules.”
“There is no doubt about it, let’s be clear,” he said.
“Now, unfortunately, it is clear that we have accumulated problems in the agency that replaced the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), in terms of service and readiness to respond. And this is really harming people,” he said.
Beyond the immediate problems of reception, it encourages “exploitation of misery by networks that take advantage of vulnerabilities to extort already scarce resources from those emigrating to Portugal in search of a better life.”
“The Portuguese government intends to pursue a policy of doors that are neither wide open nor closed, a regulatory policy that respects rights,” he said, promising “more flexibility in the process.”
“The idea that we can function without rules is utopian and has no benefits for those seeking quality of life,” but on the other hand, “the idea of closing doors and discouraging mobility” is also unsustainable. So, “we are focused on balance, with more flexible mechanisms,” the Prime Minister said.
“Unfortunately, in recent years, the search for more flexible solutions has clogged up the services, and we have to do some things” to “unblock” them because “they don’t provide an adequate response,” he added.
Luís Montenegro guaranteed the continuation of the vocational training projects supported by Portugal in Cape Verde, considering the current process “beneficial”: investing in training in the archipelago so that Portugal can receive qualified personnel absorbed in economic activities, with protection and guarantees in which he called it ” the best way to welcome and integrate immigrant labor.”
It is “a strategic bet that interests both countries” and which “has nothing to do with the parliamentary structure that exists in Portugal,” he said in response to a question from a journalist who questioned the risk that an increase in the number of far-right MPs could bring. .
“It doesn’t occur to me that anyone could question” a project with such a virtuous “framework,” even “that they have doubts about migration flows,” Montenegro concluded.
For the Cape Verdean government, Ulisses Correia e Silva hopes that labor mobility can be guaranteed “in a rights-based, structured and organized manner”, which will serve as an example of what relations between Europe and Africa can be.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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