AD develops theme of “controlled migration”
Luís Montenegro, the leader of Portugal’s largest opposition party fighting elections in less than two weeks’ time under the ‘AD’ (Democratic Alliance), has developed the electoral theme calling for ‘controlled migration’, saying that “situations of unintegrated immigration, in unstable and undignified conditions” create a feeling of insecurity in the country that ‘must be combatted’.
“Regulation is needed, and this must then be expressed in a more effective integration policy so as not to create areas of insecurity, areas where populations are more exposed to situations, in short, that give them a feeling of insecurity that we must obviate,” he told journalists in Elvas, in the district of Portalegre.
Montenegro, who was speaking during a visit to Cersul – Agrupamento de Produtores de Cereais do Sul as part of the AD Democratic Alliance campaign, and in the context that former PSD president Pedro Passos Coelho only yesterday associated immigration with insecurity.
He gave as an example “a fatal episode in which two people died in Lisbon” – referring to the Mouraria blaze just over a year ago where it became clear that “about twenty people” lived “in a small space”, where sleep was conducted in ‘shifts’.
“This kind of situation ends up resulting in such instability among these people that, in everyone’s eyes, we fear for our safety. It’s normal for this to happen,” he said.
“I’m not saying that people who come to Portugal from abroad have this tendency to create problems, but they do create a feeling when they are not well integrated, and this feeling has to be combated, of course.”
This is quite a development on the theme presented in AD’s electoral programme, in which the alliance said it seeks to ‘combat illegal immigration and human trafficking’ and at the same time propose measures for attracting qualified immigration (the opposite of the norm at the moment) to respond to demographic and labour requirements in Portugal”.
Yesterday, at an AD campaign rally in Faro, Pedro Passos Coelho accused PS Socialists of having increased insecurity in Portugal, which he associated with immigration.
“We need to have a country open to immigration, but beware that we also need to have a safe country” – he repeated a statement made at a party rally eight years ago.
“At the time, the government turned a deaf ear to this, and in fact, today, people feel insecure as a result of the lack of investment and priority given to these matters. It’s no coincidence,” said the former prime minister.
Aspirant prime minister, Luís Montenegro, chose his words carefully in Elvas today: “Immigration is a challenge that we face“.
“It’s essential to have regulations and therefore not to have a policy of wide-open doors, but it’s also essential to have good policies for integration, for welcoming and for giving dignity to the people who come to us to build their life projects here,” he said
The PSD leader believes he has a “balanced” position on this issue, not wanting a policy “neither with wide-open doors, nor with closed doors under lock and key“.
“There needs to be regulation and, above all, there need to be integration policies,” he repeated, admitting the popular mantra that immigrants are already responsible for “very significant levels of contribution to Portugal’s Social Security system” – some would say they have saved it. ND
Source material: LUSA
