Parliament to debate first draft of how to implement Europe’s pact on immigration and asylum
With immigration one of the burning subjects of the day in Portugal, parliament today is debating the national plan for implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum – the first version of which was submitted to Brussels by the previous government. It is believed that a number of changes will be made.
As reports have explained, the pact’s common implementation plan “sets out the objectives and capabilities that all member states must develop, at legal and operational level, to effectively and fully implement the new measures approved by 2026”.
In October last year, the former director of the then foreigners and borders service (both have now been replaced) was appointed to coordinate a working group to “prepare, coordinate and ensure the execution of the national plan for the implementation of the Migration and Asylum Pact”.
The country’s political make-up has since changed, along with the focus on immigration, and the news that keeps coming around it.
Today, SIC Notícias asks “What do the Portuguese think of immigrants?” – returning to data that shows immigration has snowballed in recent years: “In six years, the number of legal foreigners in Portugal has more than doubled, going from 480,300 in 2017 to more than a million last year”. Added to this total are thousands of immigrants still in the process of being legalised.
The media channel refers to the number of immigrants paying into the social security system, but adds that when it comes to poverty, 27% are in a situation of poverty and social exclusion, “a higher value than that of the Portuguese population (19.4%)”.
Cutting to the chase, to the public’s perceptions of immigration, the channel acknowledges that the recent influx of immigrants (and media coverage) has had an effect on Portuguese opinion.
“According to the Immigration Barometer, an extensive survey by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, around two thirds of Portuguese want fewer immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, consider immigration policy to be too permissive and accuse immigrants of contributing to more crime, although they consider them important for the economy.
“At the same time, 68% agree that immigrants ‘are fundamental to the national economy’.
“In the same survey in which 42% of respondents overestimate the number of immigrants in Portugal, the majority are in favour of granting rights such as the right to vote (58.8%), facilitating naturalisation (51.8%) and/ or family reunification processes (77.4%).
“The barometer assessed, for the first time, how the Portuguese feel about those from India, Nepal and Bangladesh (who represent only 9% of all immigrants), and found that 63% want a reduction, which is not the case with any other group.
“Respondents seem to have antagonistic feelings towards immigration: a large proportion consider it more of a threat than an opportunity, while more than two thirds of respondents (68%) agree that they are fundamental to the economic life of the country’.
“As for Portuguese values and traditions, 51% see immigrants as a threat, a ‘percentage that has almost doubled compared to 2010”.
Immigrants and insecurity
The study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation “doesn’t point to any relationship between the rise in the number of immigrants and crime, but politicians have insisted on an increase in the perception of insecurity on the part of the Portuguese, a statistic validated by various studies, to which the media’s coverage of the phenomenon also contributes”, says SIC.
“In 2023, Dutch sociologist Hein de Haas compiled a series of studies that consistently show that immigrants in general have lower crime rates than the native population, although this doesn’t happen in the second generation, due to integration problems that lead to cases of delinquency.
“In May, the Annual Internal Security Report (RASI) for 2023 was published, indicating an increase of 5.6% in violent and serious crime, with 14,022 crimes recorded, 741 more cases than in 2022, the highest figure since 2019, with significant increases in extortion (25.8%), kidnapping and hostage-taking (+22%), resistance and coercion of an official (+13.2 %), robbery (+7.7%) and street robbery (+0.8%).
“General crime also increased by 8.2% in 2023, with 371,995 complaints received, 28,150 more than in the same period in 2022, the highest figure since 2014.
“This month, PJ judicial police reported that there were 112 intentional homicides in 2024, the highest number in a decade, but only in 7.4% of cases was there no relationship between the victim and the perpetrator (13% in 2022 and 17% in 2022), with the majority occurring between neighbours and/ or family members.
“However, the political discourse has been focused on the perception of insecurity, with the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, in his first Christmas message, prioritising the promotion of ‘regulated immigration’ and the fight against crime – without linking the two themes”, says SIC – leaving it up to readers to conclude whether the mention of the two issues in the same speech might have led the PM’s audience into making subliminal links.
A link has certainly registered with right-wing party CHEGA, which consistently blames the increase in immigrants for the rise in crime.
SIC’s report today adds that CHEGA’s discourse “has been echoed in the media, despite the fact that Portugal continues to be among the safest countries in the world”.
Bizarrely, last night the same media station broadcast a disturbing report on the Martim Moniz/ Mouraria area in Lisbon (the area constantly in the news since mid-December, thronged by immigrants) detailing the lack of security, the crime, the ‘drug taking in plain sight’, and the concerns of the Portuguese resident population.
All in all, the country’s focus on immigration – in spite of employers’ constant refrains that immigrants are vital for the implementation of myriad projects for the future – could not be more highly-charged.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
Source material: SIC/ Lusa
