The government is preparing, in partnership with companies, measures to speed up the integration of migrants in our country, assures the Minister of the Presidency.
The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, announced that the government is preparing, in partnership with companies, measures to speed up the integration of migrants in our country.
"We have been negotiating with employers' confederations a package that we call accelerated visa processing," he begins by explaining. For Leitão Amaro, economic migration in the country "must be labor migration" and "must come with the responsibility of employers ."
"Integration must be a collective duty, but also of the companies that need these workers", argues the minister, who asks those who want to employ foreigners to make "commitments of interest", such as employment contracts, but also, for example, initiatives for "language teaching" and "accommodation in suitable conditions".
Companies must be "co-responsible for integration"
"If we understand that there are certain sectors that need more labor, the companies that will employ them must be partners of the State and society", he admits, defending that companies that need to hire migrants should be " co-responsible for their integration process ".
At the same time, the Minister of the Presidency also insisted on the need for immigrants to respect the values of Portuguese society, so that the country does not fall into the extremes of hatred and intolerance. "Immigration must be based on rights and duties" , he says, considering that those who arrive must guarantee "respect for human rights and constitutional values", but also assume a "commitment to integration into Portuguese society".
"These values must be respected by everyone, such as the dignity of the human person, of women, of children... Values that must be demanded of everyone who chooses to live in Portugal", he says.
Having 170,000 foreigners in Portuguese schools is "very challenging"
The State also has responsibilities in this integration process, in several aspects, such as "access to education". "We have more than tripled the number of students in Portuguese schools", assures Leitão Amaro, assuming that having "170 thousand foreign students at present" is a "very challenging change for schools".
"Sociocultural mediators in schools" were hired to help these students, because, he argues, "we need to give these foreign students true equality." " Schools are the best instrument for integrating those who come from outside," he admits.
"It is as important to regulate entry as it is to provide good conditions for those who arrive," he admits, defending a "new immigration policy" with two dimensions: "regulation and humanism."
We are living in a "deeply transformative moment for Portugal"
For the Minister of the Presidency, we are living in a "deeply transformative moment for Portugal". Participating remotely (due to the "fault" of the council of ministers) in the conference “Immigration: the challenge of proximity", which takes place in Vila Nova de Gaia, Leitão Amaro argued that the country will be, at a European level, the country with the "greatest demographic shock" in recent years.
"Until 2019 and for a long time, Portugal was among the countries in Europe with limited numbers of immigrants and with a relatively unchanged history", says the minister, highlighting that there has been, in recent years, a "significant change in numbers and origins".
"Such a rapid increase naturally causes a lot of pressure and even feelings of unrest among the resident population ," he explains.
"This in itself is a challenge, especially when it is a very rapid evolution," he says, lamenting that it happened precisely at a time when "the State dismantled its great immigration agency, the SEF", "quickly and unprepared".
"We are aware that the situation we received was one of lack of control, unregulated," he admits, a situation that required "a moderate response."
"Negative coalition" prevented border police
Speaking about who came to replace SEF, AIMA, Leitão Amaro says that hundreds of thousands of requests "are already underway" to "give these people the first condition in Portugal, which is to be regular". "It was necessary to give dignity", he admits, believing that this also brings other advantages. "Regularizing also means knowing who is there, what they are doing and where they are in the territory."
In this field, it was, you see, necessary to close the "expression of interest", however "benevolent its creation may have been", as "it became a wrong solution, unique in Europe".
" It was a door that had to be closed and should not be reopened under those terms ", he asserts, launching yet another criticism, this time at the "negative coalition" that prevented the creation of a border police force in the PSP - rejected by the PS and Chega - and that left the State "lame".
At this moment that the country is experiencing, and for Leitão Amaro, "what is asked of responsible governments is that they avoid rushing to one of the extremes of the public policy response". In other words, those who govern cannot say that "there is nothing to be done" and that "the system regulates itself", but they also cannot give space to "hate speech, denial, rejection".
"Either extreme makes the situation worse. The door wide open or completely closed... either one is worse for immigrants and residents," he believes. Leitão Amaro therefore argues that immigration policy must be "as firm as it is moderate" to avoid extremes.
"There are people who are fleeing desperate situations, there are immigrants who are seeking to improve their lives. The extreme response treats the other, the foreigner, in an undignified manner and is an undesirable response," he understands.
Now, if Portugal is "a country that needs immigrants", how can this "new and different policy" for immigration be implemented? In addition to regularizing entries, rehabilitating the State's capacity or strengthening inspection and control, it is equally important to ensure "improved integration of those we welcome".
"Immigration can be good for the country if it is regulated effectively and with integration that is humanistic. We can still do it in time to do it well," he concludes.