Luís Montenegro considered that in Portugal “hatred and racial issues are not a cause for concern” and that the majority “get along well” with immigrants and aspire to their integration.
The prime minister defended this Monday that Portugal is not a country where “hatred and racial issues are a cause for concern” and that the “vast majority” coexists well with immigrants and knows how to distinguish “some epiphenomena” from the general picture.
Luís Montenegro made these statements before the start of the first meeting of the National Council for Migration and Asylum, a consultative body created by the current PSD/CDS-PP Government and which will be chaired by the socialist António Vitorino, who spoke alongside the Prime Minister.
“We are not a country where hatred and racial issues are worrying, which does not mean that we are unaware of some epiphenomena that exist in this area,” said the head of government, in a statement to which he did not respond. questions.
Without directly referring to the lack of respect in several neighborhoods of Greater Lisbon after the death of Odair Moniz, shot by a PSP agent a week ago, Montenegro argued that in Portugal “the vast majority of the community lives well with those who seek us and they know.” how to separate epiphenomena very well in some circumstances, some feeling of insecurity from what really matters, which is integration.”
“Fortunately we are a country whose phenomenon of violation of dignity and human rights is residual”he said, highlighting that Portugal is a country that “is a reference in the international context of respect for human rights, respect for the dignity of people.”
With this Council, he explained, the Government intends to deepen the way in which the country offers opportunities to those who seek it either to study or to work, whether “with high qualifications for specific business and economic development projects” or simply “in search of better living conditions.”
Montenegro said that The Government is concerned about “suppressing and eradicating” problems related to international migratory routes of human trafficking or take advantage of circumstances of vulnerability “by organized criminal networks.”
“We want to have an immigration policy at the level of those that are the pillars of our society, to be able to have regulated migration and, through it, allow people to find the opportunities they are looking for in our country,” he stated.
The Prime Minister once again defended the the entry of immigrants through educational institutions and family grouping as “two main pillars of the reception and integration policy” of the current Government.
“It is from this perspective that we must look at those who seek us as future new Portuguese: those who come, settle, form their families here, their bases and will make their presence in our community endure as effective members of it. ”, he highlighted.
At the end of the statements, the prime minister was asked about the criminal complaint filed against some Chega leaders, including André Ventura, for statements about the death of Odair Moniz, but he sent answers for another occasion.
The new National Council for Migration and Asylum’s mission is to debate and strategically advise the Government on migration and asylum policy and was provided for in the Action Plan for Migration.
Source: Observadora
