Portas says Europe needs immigrants but they have to accept European values

Former Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas said Thursday that the European economy needs immigrants, but that they must accept European values, and he considered that immigration should be regulated.

“Europe needs immigration, whoever says otherwise knows nothing about economicsand Europe has to regulate immigration,” said the former president of the CDS-PP at the tenth edition of the party’s Escola de Quadros.

Paulo Portas was the guest at the first dinner-conference of the Escola de Quadros, an initiative of the Popular Youth, which runs until Sunday in Santa Maria da Feira, in the district of Aveiro.

The former Foreign and Defence Ministers considered that “anyone who wants to come to work in Europe – and Europe needs people to work because it is ageing – must accept the fundamental values ​​of Europe”, that is, for example, regarding the dignity of women or the non-promotion of violence.

“We need to have immigration, regulate it and not accept disobedience to European values. It doesn’t seem so difficult to know what these values ​​are, The first is the dignity of the human being, women do not hide under burkas“, he defended.

Paulo Portas considered that Anyone who violates these values ​​cannot remain on European territory.

The former leader of the CDS-PP also mentioned that “Portugal was a country of emigrants” and stressed that this cannot be forgotten when talking about immigration.

“Now it seems to be fashionable for certain avant-garde movements to be against foreigners, tourists and immigrants. And how is the economy? Who will work in restaurants, hotels, construction, agriculture? The problems are complex, don’t believe anyone who says they can solve complex problems in 140 characters, they are lying,” he asked the young people who were listening to him.

In his opinion, “balance is needed” to address these issues.