Catarina Martins spoke again about the problem of immigrants, this time to argue that Portugal must ensure "public services for the entire population".
The MEP for the Left Bloc (BE) Catarina Martins argued, on Tuesday night, on the Linhas Vermelhas program, on SIC Notícias , that "Portugal must know how to have the public services it needs for the entire population", in yet another comment on the problem of migrants in our country.
For the former leader of the Left Bloc, it is indisputable that "there was an absolute failure in the transition between SEF and AIMA". However, according to Catarina Martins, there are other problems related to immigrants in Portugal that the Government must take into account.
"In schools, much more support is needed for students who speak several languages [...]. In healthcare, which is the public service where people in Portugal feel it is failing the most, when we look at the number of foreign users, including immigrants and tourists, it is around 1%, it is residual, but foreign doctors, for example, are more than 5%", he noted, adding that "there are fundamental sectors of public services" that rely on "immigrant workforce" but then do not welcome them.
"We know that there are fundamental sectors of public services, such as social services, such as nursing homes, where immigrant labor is also essential for the functioning of this social fabric. And, therefore, Portugal must know how to have the public services it needs for the entire population," he said.
It is therefore clear, for Catarina Martins, that immigrants were not responsible for the weakening of public services in Portugal.