Illegal immigrants
Portugal’s prime minister Luís Montenegro said yesterday in Slovenia that illegal immigrants in the EU should return to their countries of origin: Europe will only allocate ‘good human resources’ to its economy if it has ‘regulated immigration’, he told a press conference closing the Med9 summit. Europe may need labour, but it also needs ‘good integration’, and that can only happen with a set of cast-iron controls, he said.
Attempted murder
The daughter of a well-known university professor and former president of OSCOT (the Observatory of Security, Organised Crime and Terrorism), José Manuel Anes, is in police custody facing charges of attempted murder after stabbing her father several times at his home in Lisbon on Monday, and attempting to blind him by applying pressure to his eyes. Anes, 81, is being treated in hospital and remains in a serious condition.
Airport queues
The new European border control system for non-EU citizens continues to generate ‘chaos’ in the country’s airports, especially at Lisbon airport, where queues to get through passport control, either way, have been snaking around the concourse for well over a week. The new system electronically records the entry and exit of travellers from non-Schengen countries, indicating the date, time and border post, replacing the traditional stamps in passports.
Abandoned baby
There are to be no charges against the mother of a newborn baby who left her infant, well wrapped up and inside a shopping bag, outside Leiria fire station in the early hours of Monday morning. The reason, explain reports, is that her actions were done in the interests of the baby whose clinical condition was perfect. Nothing is being said about the woman’s circumstances, nor of the baby’s future.
Clocks change
After promises years ago that Europe would end the twice-yearly changing of clocks, nothing has changed, and our clocks will be going backwards at 2am on Sunday as always. But Spain is now pressing for the end of this practice, with prime minister Pedro Sánchez suggesting it would save energy not to plunge the continent back into darkness every winter’s evening. The next step in trying to change this tradition lies with the European Council.
Private hospital
With the SNS state health service continually struggling to provide healthcare, private group Trofa Saúde has announced the construction of its 24th outlet in Portugal, this time in Aveiro. With an opening scheduled for 2028, the new hospital will represent an investment of €80 million and create 400 jobs. CEO Bruno Gomes has described 24-hour availability to care for adults and children, 100 internment beds and state-of-the-art technology and equipment.
Plain-speaking
CHEGA leader André Ventura said in an interview with CNN Portugal this week that the argument for immigration because ‘Portugal needs labour’ could (and in Ventura’s opinion, should) be looked at through a different prism. “Pay our people well for their work” and there would be no need to import cheap, immigrant labour from overseas that invariably brings with it issues of integration which go on to exacerbate social problems.
