“The migratory change we have experienced in Portugal and the very large increase in immigration in recent years is one of the biggest demographic changes the country has experienced since the last century,” the minister said, on the sidelines of another debate in the “Lisbon – A City for All” conference cycle, this time on immigrants.
In 10 years, the number of foreigners in Portugal has quadrupled, creating a challenge for decades to come. We will be discussing the consequences and how to deal with this demographic change for decades to come, the minister said.
“People today are aware that there was a period in Portugal when the doors were wide open, when many people entered and the state and the community were not prepared to receive them properly,” he stressed.
“There was inhumanity in the treatment of those who came and there was unrest among those who were already here, both Portuguese and foreigners,” recalled the minister, who a year ago presented the Action Plan for Migration, which included 41 measures for the sector, the main one being the end of expressions of interest, a legal resource that allowed regularisation in Portugal even without a work visa and which was used massively by many foreigners.
“There was a government that changed its policy, always with a moderate approach,” with “more regulation and more control, where laws have consequences and where integration is seen as a right of those who come, but also with a duty to integrate,” explained Leitão Amaro.
With this “path of moderation”, it will be possible to avoid “becoming another of those societies torn apart by hatred and resentment between those who are here and those who come, between the Portuguese and foreigners”.
Today marks one year since the announcement of the Action Plan for Migration, a document that spans four years and has achieved a level of implementation of around two-thirds. “I think a lot has been done, I think the country should be proud of what we have done collectively, but there is still a lot to do,” he said.
“We have remained within the spectrum of humanistic moderation,” unlike other countries where “the only response people had was a radical, dehumanising response based on false facts encouraged by extremist forces,” the minister stressed. The country must “present responses that work and are not extremist”, avoiding the “acceleration of fears and resentments”.
“There is no happy society if people hate each other,” he added. Present at the debate, Miguel Soares, director of the Department for Social Rights of the Lisbon City Council, recalled that the city has 10% of the foreign residents in Portugal, with a total of 160,000 immigrants, most of whom come from Brazil.
In the recent past, due to the “pull effect” of the capital for new arrivals, there was a “powder keg and public health crisis”, as was evident in the homeless people on the streets. The president of the Arroios Parish Council, Madalena Natividade, recalled the tensions in her parish of 33,000 inhabitants, which doubled with the number of foreign residents.
Her first battle was the “huge number of residence certificates requested from the council” by immigrants in the process of regularisation, often with obvious illegalities.
“There were hundreds of addresses in a vacant building, they asked us for residence certificates in cafés, restaurants or churches,” in a “scheme” in which Portuguese residents received money for signing residence applications.
“The people who come are exploited and taken advantage of,” accused the mayor, pointing out that the payment for signatures continues: “in 2021 the amount was €50 and today it is €250”.
This forced a change in procedures and, “at the moment, the council only issues certificates if they have a residence permit” and “witnesses must be present”, with a “computer alert system” being implemented for “more than four or five registrations at the same address”.
These new rules have led to a “90% reduction in requests for residence certificates in the parish,” said Madalena Natividade, who thanked the public services for their support. Without this, “this powder keg could be in an even worse situation.”
Ana Sofia Branco, coordinator for asylum seekers and refugees at Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, emphasised that effective services and a timely response are essential. “Immigration is dealt with when there is a feeling of shared identity” and “assurances are given to the population that services are responding,” she said.
Platform with Lusa
