Pedro Portugal Gaspar highlights that the percentage of foreigners in the Portuguese population is below that of many European Union countries.
While in Portugal around ten percent of the population is made up of immigrants, "we have several European Union countries with a much higher percentage" , with percentages of 15 to 20 percent, points out the president of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA). Interviewed on Ponto Central on Antena 1
this Wednesday morning , Pedro Portugal Gaspar highlighted these data "to give a comparative sign of the integration of the migrant population, a picture perfectly within normality".
The AIMA leader was referring to the immigration barometer published yesterday by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, which concluded that "Portuguese society overestimates the number of foreigners in Portugal".
According to data from last year, foreigners represent 9.8 percent of the population in Portugal, which corresponds to 1,044,238 registered immigrants.
This percentage is below 17 European Union countries, a table led by Luxembourg, with almost 50 percent, and Malta, with 25 percent.
A "own identity" and 400 more employees
The president of AIMA assumes that one of the agency's main challenges continues to be the creation of its "own identity" , referring to the competences it received from institutions with "very different philosophies", the High Commission for Migration (ACM) and the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF).
To achieve this, Pedro Portugal Gaspar says that an "additional effort" from workers is needed and he hopes to receive 400 more employees.
"At the moment we have around 770 employees, but we naturally want to go beyond that," he says.
In addition to already having an increase of 64 employees, which was published yesterday in the Official Gazette, "we estimate trying to increase the number of employees by over 400".
As the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, had already announced at the beginning of the month, the president of AIMA confirms that of the 400 thousand pending cases, 150 thousand are in the investigation process and 108 thousand are under assessment.